If Love Would Be Easy
by littlesheep
Summary: ... this story wouldn't have had to be written. But we all know, love ain't easy. Will they eventually be able to get over it? No spoilers, no season three. SMacked of course! Chapter 28, Who's The Boss? up now [StellaMac] Complete!
1. Danger, High Voltage!

**Alright, I'm back. And I think it's time again for some StellaMac stuff. What do you think? Okay, this story is a bit different from what I posted so far. It's gonna be VERY long - and it's actually three stories that I will post under the same name since they are connected. So this is the beginning of part one.**

**Please let me know what you think about it - I LOVE getting reviews and your comments help to get more creative (and maybe post faster ****GGG ) - so let me know how you like it, please?  
**

**Disclaimer**: All the original characters belong to their owners - except for Mac. **Mac belongs to Stella**.

_**Chapter 1 – Danger, High Voltage!**_

"Hey Lindsay, how's it goin'?" Stella asked when she entered the break room and spotted Lindsay sitting at the table.

"Fine…" Lindsay replied.

"What are you eating there?"

"Bran cookies – it says they have no fat, no sugar…."

"Don't trust anyone who says 'No calories' – 'Free of charge' - 'Let's just lay on the bed and watch TV' or 'Can I offer you a ride in my car'," Stella commented without looking up from the coffee machine.

Then she heard a chuckle coming from the door.

"Hey Mac," Lindsay greeted. "I was just taking a short break, waiting for the test results on…"

"Relax, I was just looking for Stella," Mac answered with a smile.

"Me? What do you want?"

He grinned.

"Actually, um… offer you a ride in my car… We got a DOA…"

XXXXX

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the crime scene.

Danny was awaiting them inside of the apartment. Mac took a quick look around. They were standing in a large room, couch and coffee table along with TV and hi-fi equipment to their right, a door leading towards the kitchen and another, obviously the bathroom at the other end. To the left, on a king-sized bed, he spotted the victim.

Female, long blonde hair, beautifully made up. No sign of struggle or fight, no defense wounds visible. She was lying on her back as if she were sleeping.

He turned to Danny.

"What have we got here?"

"So far DOA with no ID, apartment is registered to a Riley Moormann. This doesn't seem to be him. Had a brief look around, no pictures of her or any other sign of a woman living here. Didn't check on the body yet," Danny reported briefly, but with details. "ME already left again, estimated TOD is between 4 and 5 a.m."

Mac nodded and leaned over the body from the right side of the bed and carefully took the victim's right shoulder to turn the body around. All of a sudden, a large amount of blood spread out of a small wound at the back. Below it, the blade of a spring knife stuck out of the mattress.

"Whoops! Look at what we got here... The knife snapped into the body when it fell backwards and closed the wound track so that hardly any blood exited the wound. She probably just dropped herself on the bed and…"

"… never saw it coming," Stella finished his conclusion from the door where she was dusting the door handle for prints.

Mac rolled the body over to its front to remove the knife from the mattress. He picked a glove from his jacket to wrap it around the knife and wanted to prop himself on the bed with his left hand.

Suddenly he gave a yelp.

Stella looked up in surprise. The only thing she noticed after his cry was that he bounced up and landed hard on the floor next to the bed on his back. She froze for a second, then shook her head in disbelief and ran over to him.

"MAC!?!"

When she reached him, she noticed that his eyes were open. He looked at her completely puzzled.

With a mixture of relief and laughter, she heaved "What are you doing??"

He made an attempt to get up, but felt too dizzy from knocking his head against the floor.

"Ouch…" he slowly stated.

Stella helped him to sit up and checked the back of his head.

"Everything's fine here!" she announced. "What happened?"

Mac tried to sort out himself and his thoughts. Being basically in her arms didn't exactly help him to focus as he figured very quickly.

"I... I don't know... I was just about to get the knife out of the mattress and – GET AWAY FROM THE BED!" he shouted when he noticed that Danny was about to do the same thing.

Danny jumped back startled and looked at him.

"Electrical shock," Mac started to explain, now fully focused again.

"There must be some sort of electric circuit that gets closed when you have your feet on the ground and touch the knife at the same time. And it's not just a little power..."

"Yeah, that figures…" Stella mumbled.

He shook his head and shoulders as if that could make the tingly feeling in his body from the shock go away and made another attempt to get up from the floor.

Stella helped him up, glad that he seemed to be okay.

"You were pretty lucky here, you know that?"

He nodded.

"Everyone stays away from the bed, we need to figure out how to shut the power circuit down first."

TBC


	2. Trouble In Paradise

**Wow... You guys are really SO sweet :-) Thanks a bunch for all those great reviews - I've seen lots of reviews being posted for stories on other shows, I knew that us CSI: NYers could do the same - let's show them how it works! And the award for the fastest review I've seen so far goes to: Mandi:-) Six minutes after I posted the story, that's a new record.**

**I forgot two things I wanted to mention before posting chapter 1:**

**First of all I have to thank my best friend Mitch for his great work and advice and the effort he took in pre-reading the story.**

**And then there will be a song in this story - will only show up later, but if you would like to hear it, I thought I'd give you some notice. The song is called "Teardrop" and is written and performed by my favorite Jane Comerford (mentioned her before in other stories). The story isn't based on the song, but its lyrics and also the melody actually contribute a BIG part to the story's atmosphere later on.**

_**Chapter 2 – Trouble In Paradise**_

"Somebody really wanted to make sure it worked," Mac mumbled after he had figured out how the trap was assembled.

The knife had been hidden in the mattress. A thin wire was attached to it, leading to a power source under the bed which again was connected to a contact cable placed under the carpet all around the bed.

"This way, anyone who was standing next to the bed would have activated the power source and the moment he would have touched the knife, he would have closed the circuit," he explained.

"And without the glove you had in your fingers when you touched the knife…" Stella shivered at that thought.

Mac just nodded while he carefully bagged all components of the construction.

XXXXX

"Danny, you are off the case – we have a 10-64 at a deli on Hudson Street, you gotta do that by yourself," Mac announced after getting off the phone while they were getting ready to leave the scene some time later.

"A simple robbery? C'mon, Mac – this case is interesting, why…" Danny tried to complain.

"Don't argue with me about personnel assignments," Mac warned him. "Lindsay has to stay at the lab, she's on call for the DA today. Stella is with me and Hawkes has his day off today."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever…" Danny mumbled so that Mac wouldn't hear him and strolled to his car.

"Hey Mac, I think we should grab something to eat before we return to the lab, what do you think?" Stella asked after she finished packing her kit.

"Why is everyone telling me what to do here?" Mac snapped without wanting to. He felt guilty the moment the words escaped his mouth like this.

Stella gave him a surprised look.

"Excuse me…!" she replied perplexed and hurt. "I just wanted to be nice, I'm hungry and I thought you might be as well. And besides you could use a moment of rest after this earlier incident."

With that, she turned to pass him without waiting for his reply and left the apartment.

Even though he wanted to apologize, Mac couldn't avoid objecting again.

"For now I'm still the boss and I'm saying how and when things are done. We can have breakfast can be done AFTER we have returned to the lab and have checked the evidence in – and leave it to me when I need to rest and when not, I don't need to be mothered!" he called while following her out to the car.

XXXXX

"Any news in the Moormann case?" Danny asked when he and Lindsay met Stella in the lab room later in the morning.

"Why are you asking me? That's Mac's case" she snapped back.

_Mac's case?_

Danny and Lindsay looked at each other.

"Did we miss something? I thought you would be workin' on that together…?"

"No."

"Whoa, is it just me or did it get chilly in here…" Danny started to wonder.

_BANG!_

The door slammed behind Stella after she left the room.

"Whoops… trouble in paradise?"

He looked after her with raised eyebrows.

"What?" Lindsay turned her eyes from the door back to Danny.

"Ah, nothing…"

XXXXX

Stella returned to her office and plopped into her chair. Why did things get so complicated today? She tried to figure out what had happened. As far as she was concerned, she didn't do anything wrong.

_Then why was he acting so weird at the crime scene? All I had done was try to be nice and offer some support…_

With a sigh, she turned towards her monitor and hit a few keys on her keyboard. Then she picked a piece of paper from her printer, looked at it, crumpled it and threw it towards the paper basket next to the door with a curse.

That very moment, Mac poked his head through the door. The paper ball hit him squarely at the forehead. He instantly pulled his head back and shook it in surprise. Then he carefully opened the door again, waving a white handkerchief through the crack.

"I come in peace…" he whispered, his head slowly following the handkerchief. "May I come in without getting hurt?"

Stella grimaced in return.

"What is it, Mac?"

She was still mad at him and he knew she had a right to be. He couldn't explain to himself why he treated her the way he did earlier, but he intended to make up for it right now.

"I'm sorry for … you know. I shouldn't have talked to you like that – you think I could blame it on the electrical shock, hum??" he carefully asked with a shy smile.

Stella shook her head. Against her will she had to chuckle. She never could be seriously mad with him for long.

Mac knew he was off the hook – otherwise she would have already ripped his head off. Inwardly he released a silent _PHEW!_

"What would you say if I invited you to lunch to make up for the skipped breakfast?" he quickly added to keep the good mood.

"Okay!"

Stella jumped up immediately and grabbed her coat. She didn't really understand what caused this change, but she didn't mind. All she figured was that one should take the chances as they showed up.

And some time away from the lab along with a free lunch and nice company would certainly be a nice change.

TBC

**Hope you liked it - please R & R, let's see how far we can get this, hum? #ggg#**


	3. The CSI Diet

_**Chapter 3 – The CSI Diet**_

They arrived at a little bistro where they ate frequently. The young waitress arrived with a pot of coffee and filled two mugs for them.

"Thanks, Gina," Mac said. "We'd like to have your special please."

"Sure, will be ready in just a few minutes."

Stella took her coffee mug and carefully took a little sip of the hot liquid when Mac's phone went off. She watched his face when he checked the display and knew before he answered the call that even _'a few minutes'_ would be too long for the meal to get ready. She waited till he finished the call and took the chance to get at least a second sip of coffee.

"We're on our way," Mac agreed and flipped his phone close before putting it back in pocket of his jacket.

Then he turned to Stella with an apologetic look.

"Yeah yeah, I know…" she sighed. "Lunch is also cancelled. You know, this job is probably the most effective diet I ever heard of…"

"Really sorry. But Danny is still out working on this robbery and I can't have him handle two cases at the same time all alone. Lindsay's still on stand-by for a testimony at court, I can't risk sending her out and then being called away in the middle of processing the scene – and Hawkes…"

"…has his day off, I know the duty schedule – we made it together, remember?" Stella finished.

"Let's just see what we have there and then we'll decide later how to work on everything at the same time."

They got up and put on their coats again. On the way out Mac went over to the counter to pay for the coffee.

"Sorry, Gina – work is calling, we gotta go," he apologized while handing her a bill. "Rest is for you."

The waitress nodded with a smile, she knew the drill. This wasn't the first and it wouldn't be the last time something like this happened.

XXXXX

"Body or scene?" Mac asked after they reached their destination and got out of the car.

Stella looked over to some bag, then at the Assistant ME Jason Turner who was already at the scene, checking the inside of the item in front of him. It looked like some sort of sport bag, according to the size and material it was a more expensive brand. The bag looked new, but was definitely out here for a while. It was partly covered in dust and mud and showed some wet discolorations along the bottom side. An ugly smell derived from it when Jason Turner opened it.

"What body??" she mumbled and turned to the Assistant ME, covering mouth and nose with her left hand. "How bad is it?"

"Well, let's say I hope you didn't have anything to eat recently…" he grimaced.

She looked over to Mac with a nice smile, giving him a playful glance.

"Be a gentleman, will you?"

He nodded and turned to the young ME while Stella placed yellow markers on the ground and started to take photos.

"What can you tell me?"

Jason Turner looked into the bag, then he looked back at Mac.

"It's dead," he stated suppressing a gulp and took another look.

"Definitely dead. Not much more I can tell you right now. We'll have to take this back to the morgue as is and try to … unpack it there. Here we would lose too much and destroy possible evidence."

"Okay," Mac agreed. "Who called it in?"

"Some punks over there," Turner motioned towards two guys in leather and jeans with lots of buttons, patches and chains everywhere, one bold and the other with a red-green Mohawk haircut who just threw up, apparently not for the first time. In contrast to his hair, his face appeared pretty pale.

"Thought they'd found the big deal when they saw the bag – I'm sure they changed their minds in the meantime."

Mac raised his right eyebrow at the sight of the two figures.

"I doubt we will get a helpful statement from them at the moment…" he mumbled while he left Jason Turner alone with what seemed to be some sort of remains of a body and walked over to the two punks who were already questioned by a female uniformed cop.

After a short check on the two witnesses, he returned to Stella who had finished processing the scene in the meantime.

"Eye witnesses?" she joked, peeking at the two punks.

"Yeah, like that. Well, there's not much they could have witnessed. According to the content, that bag had been here… well, quite a while I'd say. We'll have to wait until the ME empties it to see if we find anything conclusive or identifiable in there."

"And some lucky one hits the jackpot and may process the bag…" Stella mumbled.

XXXXX

"So whose turn is it to go to the morgue?" Stella asked Mac when both of them got a page from the ME's office shortly after their return to the lab.

"Yours."

She gave him a questioning look.

"I paid for lunch," he explained.

"Lunch?!? That was just a cup of coffee and I only had two little sips because…"

"Hey, not my fault that we got a call," Mac interrupted.

Stella grumbled with a feigned smile and left the room while he tried to avoid a broad grin when she looked back at him with narrowed eyes on her way out.

TBC

**I only found the "stats" page two days ago... Hey, there are so many hits for the stories - please please please would you give a little sheep a little review after reading? Hum? ;-) Thanks guys!**

**Next chapter will feature a special appearance of my very favorite ME. What? Who that is? Sid of course, what did you think? ;-) Watch out for "Tales From The Crypt". xxxlittlesheepxxx  
**


	4. Tales From The Crypt

**#bigsmile# Thanks for all the nice comments - I hope I didn't forget to thank anyone personally - if so: SORRY ;-) I'm really happy to see you guys like the story.**

**Alright, here we go for the next part - as already announced with a little special appearance of my favorite ME :-) I just love the guy. First I'm always happy to see HIM on the show, then he's really nice and funny - and he's so sweet and nice with Stella.**

**Hope you like it!**

_**Chapter 4 – Tales From The Crypt**_

"AH! The sun is rising in the crypt…" Sid Hammerback proclaimed when he saw his favorite CSI entering the morgue.

Stella rolled her eyes in feigned desperation.

"So how did she die?" she asked, trying to ignore the comment.

"He."

"Hum?!"

"She's a 'He'!" Sid replied.

"What?? We are talking about this morning's victim, the one from the electric bed with the knife in the back, right?" Stella returned in surprise.

"Are you sure???"

Instead of explaining, he lifted the bottom of the sheet that covered the body.

"Check for yourself…"

"Oh… Yeah, from what I remember I'd say I agree," Stella returned perplexed.

Sid looked up at her.

"Well, if I can do anything to help refreshing your memory..."

"Don't flirt with me, Sid… Mac doesn't appreciate such private distraction at work," she grinned. She couldn't help it, somehow she liked the peculiar coroner.

"Mac doesn't even like other guys just taking a look at you, not to mention talking to you or being anywhere around you," he returned with a wink before he turned around so that he didn't notice her reaction.

"Hey Stella, what do you say – you, me, a little drink after work today?" he asked without looking at her.

"What??? Are you asking me out?" she wondered, still confused about his previous comment.

"Just a little after work drink among colleagues. Friends…" he smiled, unclipping his glasses and putting them back onto his nose.

Stella cleared her throat slightly.

"And… what does your wife say to this?"

"She's not in town. She's visiting her sister in Alabama, I'm a bachelor for a week," Sid grinned.

"Sid, I don't know what to… Look, I really like you, but I'm sorry I have…"

"Hey, no excuse necessary. I was just asking, I didn't mean to offend you," he smiled openly. "Not that you think I would make an inappropriate advance…"

Stella shook her head.

"Don't worry, I know that. Maybe another time, okay. It's just that today I already have plans – so…"

"Sure, another time it is. Promise?"

"Promise!" she smiled.

"By the way, back to work - have a look at this…" Sid handed her something small, bloody and slimy which had a suspicious similarity to a pair of rotten plums or something like that.

Still slightly irritated by their prior conversation, especially the part about Mac that had distracted her completely, Stella grabbed the thing with a reflex action and gave it a disgusted look.

"Urgh… thanks. What - the – hell - is - this?!?" she asked while looking for a place where to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

"His family jewels," Sid stated in a neutral tone while he held out a glass where she could drop them in.

Stella briefly shuddered while she took off her gloves and threw them in a trash can.

"And why exactly was I holding his balls in my hand?" she wondered, not really sure if this was just a joke or part of the investigation.

"Um, sorry. I didn't mean to intimidate you, in case…" Sid struggled. He was one of the few people who could risk such jokes with her without getting choked, just right now he wasn't sure if he might have crossed the line.

"In case what?"

Now Stella had the feeling it was her turn to tease him a little and she was willing to go for it.

"In case I never had anything like that in my hands before? Hum? Well, let me just tell you so much – not yet when they were this much undressed at least," she reported while she looked him straight in the eyes without blinking.

Sid gave her an investigative glance over the upper edge of his glasses.

_Serves me right!_

He figured she was just teasing him and gave her a smile. They were tuned to the same wavelength.

"So?" Stella reminded him with a look at the now safely stored items.

"Right. I examined the body first. Only obvious injury is a stab wound to the back which you already know about. But the wound itself wouldn't have been fatal, normally the guy should have been able to get up afterwards. He would have had severe bleeding, but he should have made it to the phone to call 911," Sid started to explain his findings.

"Unless he would have turned around to examine the knife the moment he stepped on the carpet," Stella mentioned.

"Right, but I didn't find any burn marks on the body, he didn't get an electrical shock," Sid returned.

"So why is he dead then?" Stella wondered.

"Coming to that now," he replied. "I took samples of fluids, hair etc. and sent them to Tox. Results came back half an hour ago, slight amount of poisoning."

"So he was poisoned, not stabbed?"

"Not sure, the dose wasn't fatal either. And besides it wouldn't have been anything that you would expect to be used as a killing drug…"

"What is it?"

"Hormones. When you take them as a man, they … um, shrink…" he looked over to the glass.

"Figures," Stella grinned. "Tough topic, hum?"

"Tell me about it… Anyway, after I got the results, I decided to excise his testicles. And as you can see - they don't really look normal."

"Never really examined any that close to be honest, but yeah, you're right. They do look weird," Stella confirmed.

"You should test for chemicals in them, there are numerous poisons that amass in certain organs, some attach to protein and um…"

"Yeah, clear. Protein central…" she winked while she picked up the glass and put it in a paper bag. No need to carry that kind of content around in plain view of everyone.

On her way back to the lab, Stella's thoughts wandered back. That had certainly been a VERY weird conversation.

TBC

**Keep in mind: Try to encourage fast posting - don't forget to feed the little sheep with some reviews ;-) It's hungry... and it will appreciate it #smile#  
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	5. Men!

**You are so sweet :-))) I'm glad you all loved the chapter even though it wasn't really a SMacked one - I had great fun writing this teasing stuff between Stella and Sid.**

**One short explanation to this one - I have Jane mentioned in it (they never said she left even though she hasn't been on screen, so I'm just saying she is still working at the lab -but she doesn't really play in this story, so it doesn't really matter - just to avoid confusion).**

**Okay, since you've been so nice with reviewing I'm gonna be nice and give you another chapter already now. Hope you like it, please R&R :-)**

_**Chapter 5 – Men!**_

"Hum, maybe sleeping with the boss would help to get on the big cases. And stay there of course…" Danny mumbled absentmindedly to himself when she entered the lab room.

Stella froze and nearly dropped the evidence bag she brought from the morgue.

"Nah, I think that's really the LAST string to pull," he added while he left the room without even noticing her.

After making sure he left, Stella finally stopped holding her breath. She put the evidence bag on the table and started to take the samples out. She was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn't even notice Mac coming in behind her.

"Hey Stella, did you already get anything out of the substances we pulled of the bed sheets…."

She jumped up startled, the evidence bag she just wanted to put aside flew up in the air.

Mac instinctively reached out and caught it.

"Whoa! Easy there…" he reacted in surprise. "Getting a bit paranoid?"

Stella plopped into a chair, breathing a couple of times.

"I'm sorry, Mac… I was just…"

"Yeah, figures. What's keeping your mind so busy that you seem to be on another planet?"

She felt a hot shiver running down her spine.

What was she supposed to tell him? About Sid and his comments about Mac being jealous when it came to her? About Danny's certainly – or not??? – incoherent comment about sleeping with the boss? Yeah, that would be the right topics to discuss, especially with Mac…

Even though both of them knew there was nothing behind it, she was uncertain if he might panic if he suspected others thought that something was going on and…

She took a deep breath and called herself to order. Then she took the evidence bag back from him and handed him the latest evidence.

"Hum. Is that what I think it is?" Mac asked with a wrinkled forehead.

"Ah, come on… I had them in my hand without the glass!" Stella complained and quickly added "I wore gloves!" after she noticed the look on his face. Then she decided to add a little of the more harmless part of her conversation with Sid to ease the situation.

"Hey, no flirting at the lab!" Mac joked after she finished.

"As if I would be the only one at the lab who is a target of such attempts…" Stella returned, glad about the change of direction.

"Excuse me?!?"

"Jane Parsons from DNA? Mac, the looks she's always giving you could melt the polar ice caps…"

"Are you sure…?" Mac replied uncertainly.

"And she's not the only woman out there who's attracted to you..." she paused, waiting for a reaction.

"Oh c'mon, Mac! Don't tell me you don't notice that any single female being around has an eye on you…"

He shrugged.

Stella shook her head in disbelief.

"Eh… MEN!"

He thought about it for a moment, then smiled.

"Let's go out for lunch!"

"What?! Again?"

"We didn't have anything to eat yet and it's only 2 p.m., so…"

"Mac, I don't know…"

The expectant look in his eyes disappeared and a shade came over his face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bulldoze you… I just thought… But if you have plans, it's … " he turned to leave.

"Mac!" Stella called before he opened the door.

"Wait…" she softly added. "If we can stop at my place on the way, I forgot my cell phone this morning and didn't have a chance to stop by and get it yet… We could grab something to eat afterwards, hum?"

He looked into her eyes, the hopeful look reluctantly came back to his face.

"Sure. I'll meet you at the car," he replied and turned to leave the room.

Stella cleaned the work place and got her coat and purse from her office. On the way to the elevator, she met Adam who was on his way to talk to Danny about some evidence from his burglary case.

"Already leaving?" he joked.

"Yeah, but only temporarily. Gotta get my cell phone from my apartment, be back after lunch. Can you process these samples for me?" she asked while handing him samples that she had taken from the victim's testicles. "I need a full tox screen on anything that doesn't belong in there."

"Sure, no problem."

TBC

**Good - if you got up to this point, you did read. Now it's your turn to write a little something ;-) Update should follow soon.**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	6. Someone We Know?

**Awwww... :-) You've been SO nice to me - I thought about updating tomorrow (don't know why, just because...), but since you've been so good with reviewing, I will post this one a bit earlier. It's just a short one, kind of transition before the "chaos" goes on, but I had to put a break here. You will see why when you get the next chapter - this weekend, I promise! (Well, that is if you keep being so nice #gg#)  
**

**Now go ahead, R&R please!**

_**Chapter 6 – Someone We Know?**_

Twenty minutes later, Lindsay in search of Stella found Adam talking to Danny in Trace.

"Hey, do you guys have any idea where to find Stella? I can't find her anywhere. Her cell seems to be off…"

"She wanted to go home, she forgot her phone there, she left about twenty minutes ago," Adam replied after checking his watch.

"Thanks!" Lindsay called on her way out.

"Hey Montana, wait!" Danny called after her and followed her to the elevator. "I thought you were on call for appearance at court?"

"I was. The DA just called, court has been adjourned. He asked me to get him the evidence we collected so that he can prepare for the cross tomorrow. I just need Stella's signature for handing the stuff to him…"

"Hey, you can help me with my case since you're not assigned to any right now. I need to go back to the crime scene and try to recreate the events there. Eye witness testimonies don't really give a clear picture of the events yet. We can stop by at Stella's place, it's sorta on the way," Danny offered.

"Sure, let's go then," Lindsay returned.

XXXXX

Fifteen minutes later they were standing in front of Stella's apartment and knocked on the door.

"Do you want to visit Miss Bonasera?" they heard a voice behind themselves.

They turned around. On the other side of the corridor, a nice old lady looked out of her door, smiling at them.

"Yes, Ma'am. Do you know if she's home?" Lindsay politely asked her.

"I'm her neighbor, Mrs. Wintermeyer. I'm sorry, my dear, Miss Bonasera left about half an hour ago with this nice young man," the woman gently replied.

"Nice young man?!?" Danny exclaimed, getting him a thump of Lindsay's fist in the ribs.

"Oh, he's a police detective, he visits her sometimes, a very handsome and polite young man …" Mrs. Wintermeyer started.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Wintermeyer," Lindsay gently interrupted her, shooting a warning look at Danny. "We have to leave now…"

"You know, …" Mrs. Wintermeyer continued, apparently glad that there was someone she could talk to.

"… Miss Bonasera is a very nice young lady. She is always so friendly to me. Sometimes when she goes shopping, she brings me some stuff because I can't walk that well anymore and carrying the heavy shopping bags all the way would be very hard for me. Then we have a cup of tea together and talk a little. That's not very common that the young girls want to have something to do with such old grandmas like me," she smiled. "And she's also a police detective, that's a very nice feeling to have someone like that as your neighbor in a big city like New York."

"That's true, thank you very much. Have a nice day," Lindsay smiled and turned around, dragging Danny with her.

On the way out, he stopped her.

"First of all, thanks for the punch. And then … Who's this 'young man' that Mrs. Wintermeyer mentioned? Stella have a boyfriend?"

"That would be none of our business, Messer," Lindsay cut him off, secretly wondering herself if Stella was really dating another cop.

_Who might that be? Someone we know??_

TBC

**Let me know what you think :-)**


	7. Blue

**You know... you guys start scaring me ;-) Thanks so much for all those nice comments, really appreciate that. Oh - and let me know if I'm to fast with updating so that you can't follow with reading and reviewing. I can always slow down a bit #gg#**

**Okay, back to the real issue of the story now - Stella and Mac and whatever might or might not go on there...**

_**Chapter 7 - Blue**_

"Will Mac join us at Sullivan's tonight?" Lindsay asked Danny while they were cleaning the lab table at the end of their shift, wondering if anyone had asked him already.

"Let Stella handle that," he recommended.

"Why's that?"

"Because if there is anyone who could get 'Yes' as an answer to such a question, it's her. If you need anything from Mac that you are not completely sure he would buy and you don't trust that you are convincing enough, she will do it in no time," he explained.

"Figures. So, anything going on between the two of them?" Lindsay got curious, remembering their earlier encounter with Stella's neighbor.

"Something, somehow, sometimes..." Danny tried to put it in words. "Nobody really knows for sure what it is exactly. Guess they don't even know themselves."

"I see..." Lindsay wondered.

"Mac is special and Stella's the only one who can always get through to him, no matter how rough things are. She has some special way with him, she always had. Even when his wife was still alive and especially after Claire died, Stella was the only one he would listen to," Danny explained.

"They have this … special something, you know?"

"Yeah, I noticed. I just wasn't sure if it was just my imagination or… I'll go and ask her if she talked to Mac."

XXXXX

Lindsay found Stella in her office with a confused look on her face.

"Hey, what's up with you?" she asked.

Stella sighed.

"I'm feeling a bit blue about my love life..."

"Really? Have you been seeing a man lately?"

"Only when I close my eyes and concentrate..."

Lindsay chuckled.

"Tell me about it..."

"Sad, isn't it?" Stella tried to pretend a depressed look.

"Can I ask you something?" Lindsay curiously looked at her. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Go ahead," Stella replied with a smile, glad about the little distraction.

"What's the deal with you and Mac?"

"Mac Taylor?!?" Stella eyes widened.

"Do you know another Mac? You look as if you've seen a ghost…"

"What makes you come up with him in this context?"

"Come on, Stella, you don't have to be a genius to see the chemistry you guys have. The air's so filled with it, if someone would light a matchstick in here, the whole lab would be blown up..." Lindsay stated, encouraged by her prior conversation with Danny. "A blind one can see from the moon that he has feelings for you," she added impatiently, at the same time afraid that she was crossing the line completely.

Stella frowned in return.

"Mac Taylor???" she repeated bewildered.

Lindsay rolled her eyes. This was hopeless. She couldn't believe it, Stella was so sensitive and attentive when it came to Mac, she would notice the slightest change in his behavior or attitude.

_How could it be possible that she didn't see what everybody else did?_

Lindsay was sure she really didn't notice it, Stella's reaction was pure surprise and disbelief, not a hint of denial. She made a mental note that something needed to be done here.

_Just what?_

"You asked Mac if he would join us at "Sullivan's" later and he said 'no' again, hum?" she more or less changed the topic since that was her initial reason to talk to Stella.

The other problem would be handled later, she just had to figure out how.

During the time she worked at the lab, she had learned that this was a weekly routine. Stella would always ask Mac to join them because she was permanently trying to convince him to go out, be among people, relax and enjoy life a bit, while he would always politely thank her but reject the offer, coming up with some more or less lame excuse.

"Nah, that's not it…" Stella replied absentmindedly without looking up.

"So you didn't ask him yet?" Lindsay followed up.

"He asked me," Stella suddenly replied in a low voice.

"WHAT?!?!?"

TBC

**So - nobody knows nothing for sure. Hope you like it :-) We are at the beginning of a LOOOONG and winding road, just follow me on this one. Let me know what you think - thanks! xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	8. Expect The Unexpected

**And again: THANKS:-) You guys are really cool. And yes, I can understand that some might have been a bit confused here and there - believe me, that's not the last time ;-) Always keep the title and the summary in mind - even I was confused when I wrote the story. Trust me, eventually everything will make sense. Um, I hope #ggg#**

_**Chapter 8 – Expect The Unexpected**_

Now it was Lindsay's turn to look confused.

"He asked me out..."

"Mac?! The Mac Taylor who leads this lab???"

"The very same."

"HE asked YOU if you would go with him to meet us at the bar tonight?"

"Um… not exactly," Stella hesitated, she was still struggling to believe herself what had happened earlier and also not sure whether she wanted to share it with anyone.

"He asked you out on a DATE??" Lindsay was bursting with curiosity.

"Shshsh! Couldn't you be a little louder? They can't hear you on Times Square..."

Stella nervously looked at the door to check if the whole lab was already staring at them.

"Sorry... a date?!?" Lindsay repeated whispering.

"I wouldn't call it a date..." Stella reluctantly replied.

"What did he say??"

"Well... When I asked him if he would join us tonight, he said he'd have to do some more paper work, not tonight, maybe next time, the usual," Stella started slowly.

"I said 'Okay, see ya tomorrow then' and wanted to leave when he called me back."

"Aaaand???" Lindsay couldn't bear it anymore.

"Then he just said he would like to go, but instead of meeting the whole staff he would rather go and have some dinner ... that's all."

"Uhum."

Lindsay pressed her lips together and nodded knowingly.

"I see... He didn't want to join the crew at the bar, but rather be alone with you. Dinner for two. No date. Figures... Now THAT is some news!"

She jumped up and turned to leave.

"Lindsay!" Stella stopped her. "Wait…"

"Please… do me a favor - don't let the others know about this. I don't want any rumors circulating around here. If Mac notices that people are starting to talk about this, making jokes and so on – he'll never come out of his shell ever again…"

She was really concerned.

"Could you just excuse myself and tell the others I had to work late when you meet them?"

"Sure, don't worry, nobody will hear a word from me," Lindsay assured her. "Have a lot of fun tonight," she winked on her way out.

"We'll see…" Stella thanked her, secretly getting a little excited, yet a bit anxious about the evening. She had the feeling that there was something that he wanted to come forward with but didn't dare – she on the other hand also didn't dare ask because she was afraid of scaring him off… And maybe it was nothing after all? Maybe he just wanted to have a nice dinner with a friend and coworker, no strings attached.

"Why do men have to be like this?" she sighed.

"What? Complicated, but irresistible?" Lindsay turned around in the doorframe.

"Exactly..." Stella sighed again now with so much desperation that it caused Lindsay to laugh.

XXXXX

"Hey Montana! Over here…" Danny called when he spotted Lindsay coming through the door at Sullivan's pub an hour later.

"Hey guys," she greeted them while she took off her jacket and scarf and took a seat between Hawkes and Flack.

The waitress came to their table and took their order.

"Beer?" she looked around.

"Yeah, beer for everyone. First round is on me," Flack confirmed.

"So, where's Stella? Didn't she wanna come with you?" Hawkes asked Lindsay.

"No, um, she said she's sorry, but she can't join us tonight. She has to work late, finish some paper work, you know…" she tried to sound as convincing as possible.

Danny raised his eyebrows.

"With Mac, hum?" he teased, since that was the standard reply Stella would always give them when they asked her if Mac would come as well.

Lindsay froze for a second. She felt she had _**"Guilty as charged"**_ tattooed on her forehead – in neon letters.

She winced, but laughed along with the others and soon the conversation changed to other topics. Especially when Sid arrived and started to entertain them with his 'Tales from the Crypt' nobody thought about Stella or Mac anymore.

Nobody but Lindsay.

TBC

**And my usual begging: Please R&R - lots of reviews cause faster updates :-) So, go for it! xxxlittlesheepxxx**

**Oh - and before I forget it again, I have a little OT poll for you: What do you think about M-rated stories? Nothing planned for this one here (not for this first part, only at a much later point), but I would have another short story which is about ready to go out, you wanna have it? It's not too much I guess, but I would like to hear how much you like stories that are a bit more "steamy". Let me know...  
**


	9. Something Like Paradise

**Alright... ready for a little bit of fluff?**

_**Chapter 9 – Something Like Paradise**_

"Ready to go?" Mac asked, poking his head through the door in Stella's office shortly after Lindsay had left.

Stella looked up surprised. She hadn't seen him in a while, actually he had disappeared right after he had asked her about the dinner.

"Sure," she smiled while she got up and turned the laptop off.

"Where are we going?"

"To a place I hope you will like," he smiled back, holding her coat to help her put it on. "There's a new Greek restaurant on 222 West and 79th Street, near Broadway. It's called 'Kefi' – it's a small place, informal atmosphere with homemade cooking. Got rave reviews."

Then he opened the door for her and they left.

XXXXX

Mac hadn't exaggerated. The little restaurant was really nice. It had mainly small tables which were placed in comfortable niches, so that even though all tables were occupied, there was enough privacy. Stella's mood lightened up very quickly. The sound of Greek music coming from speakers on the ceiling and the familiar smell of Greek food wafting around made her feel great.

And Mac did his part as well. She knew he was always polite and nice and this wasn't the first time they went out to eat something together. But she had never seen him so relaxed, even funny and amusing. Just when she started to joke in Greek with the waiter, he seemed to get a little … what, jealous?

_No way…!_

Even if at first Stella was wondering what the evening was supposed to mean, she soon forgot about that and just enjoyed the atmosphere, the company and the very delicious food. They had meatball soup, pasta with pork souvlaki, warm Feta and crispy cod and for dessert walnut cake with walnut ice cream.

_Paradise must be something like this…_

She figured that she hadn't had this much fun in a very long time and that it didn't matter if there was a reason for this dinner for two or not – it was just nice and she wouldn't ask if he didn't want to come forward with it on his own.

After another glass of Greek wine, they got ready to set out.

XXXXX

Mac parked the car in front of Stella's apartment building and helped her to get out. For a moment they were standing on the sidewalk, watching the traffic on Lexington Avenue. Then Stella suddenly looked up and grabbed his arm.

"Did you see that?!"

"A shooting star…" he nodded.

Stella smiled at him.

"Make a wish! But don't tell – or it won't come true."

She watched him from the side. For a moment he stared absentmindedly into the night sky over New York until he noticed that Stella was watching him. He smiled slightly abashed.

"Did you?" she asked with a smile.

Mac lightly shrugged and nodded.

_Make this wish come true…_

"I'm gonna walk you to your door," he announced and put his left arm around her shoulders while he opened the entrance door.

She didn't want to argue with him that she didn't need protection on the way inside of the building or that she would be able to find the way alone. For now, she was willing to let him have it his way and she liked the way he was acting.

"Wanna come in for a moment? Nightcap, cup of coffee, anything?" Stella asked when the reached the door to her apartment. Somehow she didn't really wanna let this evening end yet.

"I… I don't think so, we have to get up early tomorrow and it's already pretty late. I should go home now and you also need to get some sleep," Mac replied, inwardly cursing himself that he sounded like a mixture of boss and patronizing parent to her without wanting to.

"You're right. Thanks for the nice evening, Mac, I had a great time. We should do this again," she smiled at him.

"That's right, we sure should… Good night, Stella."

"Good night, Mac."

For a moment they stood in the corridor, looking at each other without saying a word.

Then Stella made a step in his direction and placed a soft kiss on his left cheek.

"Good night…" she whispered and turned around to open her door.

Mac watched her unlocking the door and waited until she got in and closed the door behind herself.

"Good night…" he mouthed, looking back at the now closed door. Then he turned to leave.

TBC

**Yeah... I know. Bad me - shouldn't have stopped here, right? But then again: Remember the title of the story. It's not gonna be THIS easy ;-) Not for them - and therefore unfortunately not for you either.**

**Please don't forget to leave your review, don't get lazy here #ggg#**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	10. The Morning After

**Awwww, I love you guys :-) You are really great, thanks SO much! You make this story really a lot of fun to post. Um, okay - after the little fluff in the last chapter... I hope you don't hate me for this, but never forget the intro of the story (don't say I didn't warn you...). Me and my urge to stay true to the characters... #tssss# - so we have Mac's hesitation and Stella's temper...**

**Hope you still like it - I promise it's gonna be some real fun in it soon ;-)**

**-**

_**Chapter 10 – The Morning After**_

The next morning, Stella entered the locker room, finding Mac alone in there. He was just changing his shirt when she approached him.

"Hey Mac!" she cheerfully greeted him and was just about to give him a little hug. Not that she had ever done that before, at least not just to say hello in the morning. But after last night she felt just like doing something to show him how much she liked it.

"Stella! Don't… Please," he anxiously looked over her shoulder to check the door while he repelled her approach with his left arm.

Stella was so shocked by his behavior that she wasn't even able to immediately react. She pressed her lips together and slowly went over to her locker.

"I finally get it," she snapped after a moment of silence.

"Get what?" he asked confused, still having an eye on the door.

"Why you shield yourself from emotions, from any kind of personal contact."

"I don't shield myself, Stella… I just didn't want to… " Mac tried to return, but Stella wasn't in the mood for a conversation.

"Yes you do!" she interrupted him. "And it's a smart thing to do. By not allowing anyone into your heart you avoid getting hurt."

Mac took a deep breath and let it out again.

"You're wrong Stella, very wrong," he helplessly tried to object.

Stella gave a small sarcastic chuckle. She heard him speak but she wasn't listening to what he was saying. She closed her eyes trying to keep some sort of control. It wouldn't help to yell at him and she certainly wouldn't start crying now.

Mac watched her standing in front of her locker, her back turned towards him. He realized she was shivering a little. His stomach clenched at this sight, the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her. He quietly approached her until he was standing by her side and wiped away a tear on her cheek with his thumb.

"Through all the years that I've known you I never saw you get emotionally attached to anyone after Claire, therefore I never saw you get hurt," she reproachfully continued as she turned away from his touch.

"So I take it, it must be working. Maybe I should follow your example. Don't care about other people's feelings and don't let anyone get close and you won't have to worry, right?"

"After all these years you HAVE to know how much you mean to me," he tried to defend himself.

She quickly turned to throw him an icy glare.

"Yeah. You just showed me…"

Her words were full of sarcasm and they hurt. But he knew that he deserved it. Her eyes were cast down.

"Please, look at me," he asked pleadingly.

Stella slowly looked up for a short moment, her eyes expressing hurt and disappointment. Then she turned around and left without saying another word.

Mac pressed his lips together and tried to swallow the lump that was forming in his throat. His heart dropped, he didn't even look up when she left. Unable to speak, unable to jump up and tell her how wrong she was, to tell her what he really wanted to tell her.

Sadness overcame him, fear that he might have ruined everything that ever was between them. He was furious with himself.

_Why couldn't I work up the damn courage when I had the chance?_

He felt a single tear slowly rolling down his cheek.

_Damn it! Why did things suddenly become so complicated? We never had a problem talking to each other about anything… Why now? Yesterday was such a nice evening, we've been so close…  
_

TBC

-

**#sighs# Yeah... I know. Evil ;-) But realistic, hum? Okay guys - you think you can manage to crack the 100 reviews with this chapter? Geez, scary... If you do - I promise to update already tomorrow, so it's your turn now #ggg#**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	11. Danger Zone

**Oops, this is really working ;-) Hum, what else could I ask you to do and you do it...? Thanks SO very much, you are a very obedient audience #LOL# Okay, as promised you get another chapter already now as reward for 100 review #tataaa#**

**Btw, did you guys who have me on author alert or the story on story alert get an alert yesterday? I did get the review alerts, but not the chapter update alert... (just wondering)...  
**

**And I have to say I'm SO glad you guys love the little angst instead of ripping my head of ;-) It will continue like this a bit, but getting a little ...um, funny. Well, maybe not for everyone - but go ahead and read.**

**- **

_**Chapter 11 – Danger Zone**_

"So... who's gonna play the lion tamer this time and go in there and tell her?" Flack asked to nobody in particular while they were standing in the corridor a little while later.

Lindsay gave him a questioning look.

"Something's ready to explode in there..." Danny explained with a nod towards the evidence room where Stella was working.

"Yeah, and she's playing with fire…" Flack added, pointing to the alighted Bunsen burner.

"So dangerous that you guys are afraid to go in there?" she smirked.

"You haven't been here long enough, Montana..." Danny said.

Lindsay shot him a look.

"Careful, Messer! Any little spark can set things off..."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Now, who's the brave one this time? … Mac!" he exclaimed, spotting Mac coming down the corridor.

"Yeah, smart idea," Flack whispered. "Let Mac go in there, she won't eat him... after all he's the boss."

"That doesn't mean anything when Stella is really furious... Hey Mac!" Danny greeted him.

"Would you let Stella know that the tox results from the testicles in the Moormann case are not back yet, the lab had a problem with the chromatograph, it won't be fixed before tomorrow afternoon. They had to call a service guy," he explained.

"Montana and I need to check out … um, … something at the crime scene," he quickly added over his shoulder while he turned to leave, giving Lindsay a sign to follow him.

"Mac..." she greeted him with a nod and a little smile before she quickly followed Danny, leaving a puzzled Mac behind.

"I told you it's Lindsay! Lindsay, not Montana..." Mac heard her arguing.

Mac waited outside of the evidence room until the others were out of sight. He took a deep breath before he approached the door. He was well aware why they wanted to leave instead of going in there – just that they had no idea that he was the reason for the stormy atmosphere. He sighed once more. But what was usually said in such moments?

_Don't kill the messenger…_

He wasn't too sure if this would apply to him right now, but then he figured that since he was the boss – well, technically at least – and they were working together every day, he couldn't hide from her forever.

Another deep breath and he opened the door…

XXXXX

Stella was standing with her back to the door when he entered the room.

"This stupid, selfish, idiotic … son of a bitch!" she cursed silently, but loud enough for him to understand. He closed his eyes for a second.

_Boy… This needs more than just 'I'm sorry…'_

"I think a white flag won't do it this time, hum?" Mac carefully said while he approached her.

"What?" she interrupted her self-conversation somewhat irritated and turned around.

"Look, about earlier…" he made an attempt to explain while gathering the words as he spoke.

"Just leave me alone, okay? I really don't need this right now. You made your point, I was wrong, sorry about that," she gruffly interrupted him.

_Phew, how could I just walk in here without preparing an appropriate apology? I will never get a complete sentence out before getting interrupted as long as she's in such a mood and things will only get worse this way…_

He figured that now wasn't the right moment to work that out. Not that bad news about the progress in the second case they were working on would be much better, but…

"Stella, I…" he now tried to tell her about the delay in processing the evidence. After all they would have to go on working and if that case was on hold due to technical problems, they would have to go on with…

"Forget it, Mac! I don't wanna talk about it. Just leave it alone, you don't need to worry about anything. I will just forget yesterday ever happened and we never have to do it again," she burst out, leaving him no chance to speak or to even think about what to say.

He blinked a few times and pressed his lips together. There was no way to turn this into a normal conversation – she wouldn't even listen for a second. Not that he could blame her. But there was no other option, he could hardly put another CSI on the case with her and work something else with another team member – not without having to explain a lot.

Too much in fact…

"Stella, please. Let me just tell you that…"

"NO, Mac! It's not necessary to…"

"STELLA!"

"WHAT?!?"

He sort of gave up hope that she would stop arguing and actually react on his attempts, so for a moment he was totally perplexed.

"Great. Now I totally forgot why I came here…"

Stella grumbled something incomprehensible, put away the evidence she was working on and rushed out of the door. She headed over to the ladies' restroom and slammed the door shut behind her. In front of the mirrors she stopped and took a deep breath when the door flung open and Mac came in.

"Don't you run away like that in the middle of a conversation, I wasn't done yet!"

She looked at him in a mixture of anger, confusion and slight amusement when she realized the situation.

"MAC! What the hell are you doing here?" she exclaimed by letting her eyes wander around in the room, then looking expectantly at him.

"I was just trying to finish my… Why?" he stopped.

"This is the LADIES' restroom, get the hell outta here!"

Stella couldn't help but grin when she noticed that he blushed slightly after he realized that himself.

_That serves him right!_

Suddenly they heard sounds from the corridor. Stella put a finger on her lips, gesturing him to be quiet.

They heard Lindsay talking to someone outside, directly in front of the restroom door.

Mac fearfully looked at Stella.

'_What now???'_

She looked around in the room for a second, rolled her eyes.

'_See? That's what happens...'_ she mouthed soundlessly.

Then she motioned to one of the toilet stalls.

Mac looked at her in disbelief and firmly shook his head.

_NO way!_

Stella shrugged impatiently, then quickly dragged him into the stall with her as she saw the door handle come down.

TBC

-

**Wanna know how it goes on soon? You know what to do in this case ;-) xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	12. Close Encounter

**You are SO sweet - I should stop updating while I'm at work. Could be suspicious when I can't get this broad smile out of my face when those cute reviews come in ;-)**

**Alright, you were good readers so I'm gonna be nice as well and update quickly. We could go on like this, hum?**

**Oh, and just because I didn't mention this before (even though I guess the smart reader knows): Characters' thoughts are in _Italics_  
**

**- **

_**Chapter 12 – Close Encounter**_

Having no other option, Mac quickly moved into the small space with her.

Stella tried to press herself against the wall and locked the door right before they heard Lindsay entering the room. They could hear her stepping over to the sinks on the other side of the room where she turned the water on to wash her hands.

Mac tried to hold his breath, not only so that Lindsay wouldn't get suspicious.

The space was so small that he couldn't avoid body contact, actually intimately close body contact to say the least. And to make the whole thing worse, Stella didn't seem to be willing to avoid it herself. She rather seemed to enjoy the situation.

Or she was just playing with him to teach him a lesson?

In this situation, he wasn't sure about anything anymore. Mac's brain was incapable of any clear thought with Stella's body being pressed against his.

It had been such a long time since he was confronted with the smell of perfume surrounding him. All his senses seemed to be on alert. Her arms were around his upper body so that she could prop herself up against the wall behind him, her upper thighs touching his. He could feel her breath touching the skin of his neck. As she shifted her weight from one foot to the other to keep her balance, he felt her getting even closer than she already was.

Intention or just coincidence?

He struggled hard to force his thoughts to something unpleasant, but was only partly successful. Mac's heart was beating up to his throat, his knees had turned to jelly in the meantime.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Lindsay finally left the room again.

"Wait a second..." Stella whispered when he got ready to move. "Just to be safe!"

Honestly she didn't really want to get out so quickly, she had fun with seeing him so queasy. Apart from that she had to admit that being so close to him didn't feel that bad at all. And despite his reaction in the locker room earlier, she knew that deep down inside he didn't exactly dislike it himself.

After what was certainly more than a second, she reluctantly pulled back a little to allow him to open the stall door.

"Wait…" she whispered and sneaked over to the door. She carefully opened it and poked her head out to the corridor while Mac tried to get his breath and racing heart back under control.

"Okay, clear. You can go, I'll wait for a moment – I think it would be better if we are not seen leaving here together…"

XXXXX

Mac left the washroom with a slightly confused and embarrassed look on his face, unaware that Lindsay saw him coming out. While she was still wondering what he had been doing in the ladies' restroom, she spotted Stella coming out moments after him.

_First the argument about the case, then dinner together, then …_

Lindsay was even more convinced now that Stella's bad mood earlier also had to do with Mac in some way.

_And now this?_

Once again she figured that something needed to be done about this. And it had to be soon, who knew what else would happen otherwise…

_THIS is more than bizarre…_

Danny walked towards her while she was still musing about what she had just witnessed.

He had seen Mac and Stella who quickly left into separate directions when they saw him coming without looking at each other or saying a word.

"What's going on here?" he wondered, hoping for an explanation from Lindsay since the others had come from her direction.

"Honestly? I have NO idea," she admitted truthfully.

_Are they? Or are they not? Or what?_

Lindsay was confused. This was way more complicated than any case she'd ever worked on. Maybe Danny could help to bring some light into this mystery, after all he knew both of them much longer than she did. So she started with filling him in, trying not to leave anything out.

"They wouldn't even notice if it bit them right in their noses…" she sighed after she finished her story.

"Well, then we have to make sure it hurts enough," Danny replied with a smirk.

"And if there is nothing?" Lindsay asked slightly afraid that after all they might be wrong.

"Then… we are in BIG trouble," he admitted.

TBC

-

**What?? You didn't seriously believe they would jump at each other like little rabbits right there, did you? Come on... ;-) They were just in the middle of an argument - be a little patient. Or a bit more for that matter...**

**And be nice and leave your comments - and I'll think about being nice again and update quickly :-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	13. Déjà Vu

**You guys really make me wanna grab my old little laptop, run off to the pasture to my horses and write all the time :-) Guess I should blame you that my little horse is getting fat because I don't get to work with him #ggg# Thanks SO much for all the nice reviews - and the cookies, that was sweet! But don't feed too many cookies to little sheep, not good for teeth and slim waist ;-) Reviews will do fine!**

**Wanna know what's coming next? Go ahead and read:**

**- **

_**Chapter 13 – Déjà Vu**_

Stella looked at her wrist watch. Finally time to call it a day! She sighed and packed her stuff. After she turned off her computer, she went over to the locker room to get her coat. Before she opened the door, she remembered how this day started in the morning.

_We need to work this out…_ she thought while putting her hand on the door handle.

_But not today, today we had enough. All I wanna do now, is go home and have a nice bubble bath. That is, after meeting Lindsay and Danny at Massimo's. For some reason they wanted to talk to her about something that Mac shouldn't hear and they didn't wanna do that at the lab, so she had agreed to meet them there after work._

The moment she opened the door, she had the feeling of a classic déjà-vu.

Mac was standing in front of his locker and looked up when he heard her coming in.

For a second she was thinking about just backing out and leaving, but then she figured that this would be totally ridiculous. And besides, they weren't arguing or fighting about anything anymore at the moment – or were they?

She wasn't too sure about the current status since that had changed so often and abruptly the last 48 hours that little by little she had problems following the development.

"Stella…" was all Mac managed to say when he saw her, also realizing the similarity to the events that started the day and at the same time afraid of yet another argument.

"Correct," she calmly replied while she walked over to her locker.

She opened the lock, took her coat out and put it on while he was watching her, searching for the right words that didn't want to come to his mind.

After Stella finished packing her things, she turned around to look at him.

"Listen, Mac," she started quietly. "I'm not sure what this whole … I don't know what to call it … was about. I don't know what we should do about it or what we want at all, but we need to go on somehow. I think you are not yet ready to move on and that's fine with me. So I'd say we just try to get back to normal and …"

"Don't you think I know myself what I'm ready for?" he returned gruffer than he wanted to. "Don't worry about what I'm thinking, you don't have to rack my brain, I can handle that myself!"

Then he stopped, visibly shocked by his own words.

"I'm sorry! I… I didn't mean to say that, I mean – not this way…" he quietly said while he went over to her. "It's just that…"

"It's okay. I know this is difficult and I didn't mean to tell you how to deal with your feelings. It's been a tough day, I think we should just get some rest and …" she searched for the right words. When she couldn't find any, she just shrugged and gave him a short, apologetic look.

"See you tomorrow, Mac."

"Good night, Stella…" he whispered while she was on her way out.

She turned around in the doorframe and gave him a little smile, then she left and closed the door behind her.

XXXXX

Danny and Lindsay were sitting at a table at Massimo's, a little Italian bistro not far from the lab. They had asked Stella to join them, telling her they wanted to talk to her about something that Mac shouldn't know.

"There's a new method which is pretty promising and reliable to extract fingerprints from human skin," Danny just explained.

"And from what you told me, we would have the perfect test subject, even with prints to compare the samples to…" he grinned, thinking about what she had told him about Mac and Stella in the ladies' restroom.

"Excuse me?!?" Stella's voice suddenly came from behind his back.

Danny jumped up startled. He wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, but he was well aware of the warning tone. He quickly balanced the odds of pretending it was nothing or just going forward.

"Well… if we would dust you, you're gonna tell me we wouldn't find Mac's prints all over your body?" he joked in self defense.

"What I CAN assure you is that they would find marks of my knuckles all over YOUR body if you'd try it..." she countered, focusing on him with her eyes.

"Touché!" Lindsay smirked.

Stella was about to question further while she took a seat when she suddenly noticed that Lindsay was permanently staring at the door.

"What the hell...???"

She gave Lindsay a warning look when she spotted Mac coming through the door.

"Hey Mac! Have a seat," Lindsay invited Mac with a bright smile, while trying to ignore the threat to her left.

TBC

-

**Okay, for those of you who can't wait for a little more "action" (and everyone else of course) - I mentioned another short story a few chapter ago. I plan to post that tomorrow (first of two chapters) if you all promise to review that one as well :-) To make up for the waiting time you still need on this one. Wanna have it? It's gonna be emotional, bit fluffy, intense, and M (well, rather "m"). Should I post it? ;-)**

**For those who don't have the author alert activated (Hey! Why not?? #just kidding#) - watch out for "If Tomorrow Never Comes"! **

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	14. Need To Talk

**Thanks just SO much – you really rock :-) Never thought it would go this way, this is really cool. I enjoy seeing how much fun you have and really enjoy talking to you guys by replying to all those reviews. I'm having a lot of fun with this and with you!**

**-**

_**Chapter 14 – Need To Talk**_

"Okay, you two…" Lindsay started after Mac had taken off his coat and sat down next to Stella.

"The last couple of days you guys have been acting so weird that it's getting hard to focus on work because we never know what will happen next. One of you is always mad at the other, five minutes later it's the other way round, then you go out together just to fight again the next morning. Not to talk about sharing restrooms, but THAT would be another story… We are tired of it, time to talk seriously!" she commanded while Danny tried his best to suppress a chuckle on her unexpected pushiness. He hadn't expected such a temper being hidden under this 'nice girl from next door' appearance.

Mac and Stella looked at them with eyes wide open.

"So…" Lindsay continued. "WE are leaving now. YOU…" she pointed at them one after the other, "…stay and work it out!"

With that, she grabbed Danny's arm and they quickly left the location before Stella or Mac had a chance to stop them.

Outside on the street, they stopped for a moment to consider where to go next.

"Over there, let's just disappear here, in case they come after us," Danny proposed.

They looked left and right and crossed the street to stop at the other side, a little away from the bistro. Only then they turned around and checked the street and the entrance door of Massimo's.

"Clear," Lindsay sighed in relief. "You think … Did I go too far?"

Danny laughed. "I think you were great, but I also think it don't matter what I think about it… Only thing we can do now is wait what happens now."

Lindsay nodded.

"Guess you're right. What now?"

"Wanna grab a beer or somethin'?"

"I'm gonna need something harder right now…"

He looked over in surprise.

"Whatever the lady desires…"

XXXXX

"Maybe they are right? Maybe we really need to talk...?" Stella whispered after a moment, finally finding her voice.

She leaned slightly closer, secretly wishing he would break the silence with a kiss or at least a little touch. She was certain that Mac was also feeling something, just wasn't sure what it was yet or what he would want to do about it. Neither did she know if he even knew it himself.

Her gaze still remained locked with his, their faces only inches apart.

He wanted with every part of himself to kiss her, but... Would she push him away if he kissed her now? He wasn't sure what to do, what she was thinking, feeling, wanting him to do.

"Wanna order something to eat?" Mac suddenly interrupted the silence, a little too abrupt.

Stella slightly jumped. She paused for a moment, slightly disoriented and confused by what just happened... or what almost could have happened.

More than ever she felt the need to clear things up. If only Lindsay and Danny hadn't put it on the table. Before, she could just pretend there was nothing, claim she was just waiting for the right moment to talk to him on her own.

But now...

TBC

-

**I promise a faster update for the next chapter – if I don't get held up by having to do too many review replies ;-) Just kidding, you know the drill – be good and review and you get the next one fast. Be prepared – it's hanky time… Coming up: "Teardrop" incl. the same-titled song by Jane Comerford. Emotion at its best (at least the song #gg#)!**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx  
**


	15. Teardrop

**"Teardrop" as already announced is a song written and performed by Australian singer, songwriter and vocal coach Jane Comerford (now leadsinger of the German country band Texas Lightning). The song is the ultimate emotional support of this story - it's a slow ballad (only with very little guitar in the background). Imagine a beautiful, light voice with an extreme touch of emotion, despair and melancholy in it.**

**Please read the lyrics, they are a VERY important part of the story and the characters' thoughts!!!  
**

**- **

_**Chapter 15 - Teardrop**_

She knew there was something. She could feel it. She DID feel it moments ago. There was something between them that hadn't been there before. Or at least it wasn't so obvious. As long as it was hidden, they could deal with it. Now they were already too far down this road and there was no way back or out of this.

"Please, Mac, we need to talk..." she looked up at him.

_Why is he so cold now, so distanced?_

"Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about," Mac suddenly blocked.

Stella stared at him in a mixture of hurt and bewilderment.

_Well, wasn't that what she wanted to hear?_

He was so sure she was as uncomfortable as him with this set-up situation, with this forced ventilation, that she would be glad to get out of it this way. All he wanted to do was to make it easier for her. And avoid being rejected in case he would make a move that she didn't agree with.

Those were the only reasons for him not to act upon his feelings…

She swallowed hard to get past the lump that started to form in her throat and tried to keep her voice under control.

"What happened to us, Mac?" she quietly started. She noticed that her voice was trembling after all, but hoped that he wouldn't hear it.

"Where did all the trust, the closeness between us go? Didn't you enjoy our dinner as much as I did? And don't tell me you didn't feel anything when we had to hide in the stall at the restroom today – 'cause if that's the case, then something is really wrong with my instincts… I can understand why you are hesitant. I can understand if you don't trust your feelings or if you need time. I can even understand that you don't want anyone to know about something you are not even sure about yourself. But this is just us here, Mac. It's just me…" she whispered, her voice getting lower and lower.

Stella pressed her lips together and sighed silently. She fought hard to avoid the tears that wanted to come and forced herself to continue speaking.

"I don't want you to change, Mac. I know you are very sensitive about your private life and I respect that. We don't need to put this up on the bulletin board, we don't have to run around holding hands at work or kiss in public. You know that I prefer to keep things like that private myself. I don't want a big commitment from you that this will be forever right now, I just need to know where I stand…" she finished barely audible.

He still didn't interrupt her. This time, he just listened to what she had to say, unable to speak or react in any other way. He couldn't believe what he heard, couldn't believe what he thought she was trying to tell him.

"… and if I'm so wrong with what I felt the last couple of days – then … Just let me know that you don't feel the same way so that we can get this over with and move on," she sniffled, angry she couldn't fight the tears.

"Stella?"

He damned himself... he made her cry. In a reflex movement, he wanted to offer her a handkerchief, to dry her tears, to comfort her in some way.

Stella shook her head abruptly and pushed his arm away. Then she jumped up and left the restaurant in a hurry.

_I see a teardrop in your eye  
I know it's me who makes you cry_

_You turn your back and walk away  
and there are no more words to say  
_

TBC

-

**#sneeef# Okay, don't choke poor Mac... give him a chance - and me some reviews if you want a quick update ;-) And in the meantime, check out "If Tomorrow Never Comes" if you didn't already - that's "a bit" lighter and not way as complicated as this one.**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	16. Please Leave A Message

**Okay – nobody chokes anybody. Not Mac, definitely not Stella – and please … also not me ;-)**

**-**

_**Chapter 16 – Please Leave A Message**_

Mac remained cemented in his chair as he watched her leave the bistro. Every fiber of his brain shouted _'Go after her!'_ but his body didn't obey.

He didn't know how long he was sitting there when suddenly a voice next to him pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Can I get you some fresh coffee, sir?"

He looked up into the questioning face of the waitress who smiled at him and back down to his coffee mug which hadn't been touched at all. The coffee in it was already cold for a while.

"No, thank you very much," he declined with thanks and handed her some bills. "You can keep the rest."

"Thank you very much, have a nice evening," she smiled at him and started to clean the table while he put on his coat and turned to leave.

It was cold outside. Mac wrapped his scarf tightly around his neck and turned up his collar. Then he looked up and down the street.

What was he supposed to do now? Where was he supposed to go?

He had no clue and right now, nothing seemed to be important, nothing seemed to be right. Finally he walked around the corner where he had parked his car earlier. On the way back home, everything that happened the last days passed by his inner eye over and over again.

The question of what and when he could have done anything differently started to drive him crazy. It was pure luck that he reached his place safely since his focus was anywhere but on the traffic around him. When he got out of his car, he had made a decision.

He unlocked the front door and took out his cell phone without taking his coat off. He hit the speed dial button and waited for the dial tone.

"_The number you dialed is currently unavailable, please leave a message after the signal" – BEEP_

"She must have turned her cell phone off…" he mumbled to himself while listening to the voice until the signal allowed him to leave his message.

"Stella, it's Mac… I need to talk to you. Please meet me tomorrow before work at Katz's Deli on 205 E Houston Street, I'll be waiting for you…"

He hung up with a sigh. All he could do now was waiting for the next morning. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get much sleep, so he grabbed a bunch of case files from his desk and tried to find a comfortable position on the couch. 

It didn't help much – even though he was staring at the papers in front of him, his mind was permanently wandering…

_I know I've gone too far this time  
You feel you have to draw the line_

_  
Give me one chance to make it right  
We'll start the future new tonight_

TBC

**-**

**I know, I know – this was another short one ;-) I promise, the next ones will be longer again. Keep reviewing and you'll get the next one fast!**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	17. Where Do We Go From Here?

**It might be that some reviews for chapter 16 got lost - at least I was told that someone reviewed and I never got it and now she could review again. Weird thing... Anyway - if you did review chapter 16, could you have a look if your review is listed and if not, just drop it again? (of course also if you didn't review at all yet #gg#) My thanks would follow you anywhere you go ;-)**

**On with the next one - lyrics of course still "Teardrop" by Jane Comerford - chappy is yet a bit short... Ughs, sorry ;-) But I promise, you'll get rewarded for your patience - a little later than soon ;-)**

**- **

_**Chapter 17 – Where Do We Go From Here?**_

The next morning, Mac arrived at the lab about 45 minutes late. The shift started at 7 a.m. and he had been waiting at the deli from 6 till 7:30 until he finally admitted to himself that she wouldn't be coming.

When Lindsay and Danny saw him coming in, they quickly disappeared into the evidence room. Normally they would have taken the chance to make fun about him being late after they left him and Stella alone at the bistro the other night.

But since Stella had already been in an hour before the shift started, both of them had no idea of how to judge the situation. And Mac's face didn't promise anything good.

"Guess our little plan didn't work out that well, huh?" Danny wondered while they watched Mac walking down the corridor.

Lindsay shook her head with a sigh.

"Seems things got rather worse than better… I guess I'll go and 'check things out'," she said while raising her eyebrows and pressing her lips together.

"Good luck…" Danny mumbled after her.

XXXXX

"Morning, Stella," Mac carefully said when he entered the break room where Stella had just poured herself a mug of tea.

"Hello."

He narrowed his eyes. This wasn't going good… She didn't even turn around to look at him.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

This wasn't good at all. Stella was not exactly a typical morning person, but even for her this was unusually curt.

"Listen, we have to talk …" he braced up, willing to clear things up right now – and right here at work…

"Mac…"

The tone of her voice was indefinable. A mixture of sadness and anger, of 'I don't wanna talk anymore…' and 'Go to hell!'?

He didn't want to give this up now, he couldn't think about going through this any longer.

"Stella, please… You got a minute?"

"No."

Stella took the tea bag out of her mug and threw it in the trash can.

He noticed her answers were getting shorter and shorter and this even though she only gave one-word-replies anyway.

Could this get any worse?

"More than one word please, Stella… What about later then?"

She shrugged in response and turned to leave.

Yeah, it could get worse…

_Where do we go from here, baby?_

_How can we make the hurt disappear?_

_I would give the world for you_

_It's breaking my heart in two_

_And what are we gonna do?_

XXXXX

Lindsay nearly bumped into Stella on her way out.

"Morning, Stella!" she greeted her, but Stella didn't seem to notice her and left without even looking up.

_Uh-ooooh… Not good._

"Hey Mac, what's going on?" she asked overly cheerful, expecting the usual 'Nothing…' in return.

"Something," he quietly mumbled.

_Something?_

Lindsay raised her right eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Mac sighed heavily and flopped down on a chair.

"Something is going on and I have no idea what. Only thing I know is that this something is going terribly wrong and I have no clue what to do about it…"

Lindsay was shocked by the desperation in his voice. She'd never seen him like this before.

"Anything I can do for you?" she compassionately asked.

Mac wanted to say no, instead he looked up at her without a word.

Lindsay's eyes met his for a moment.

_That's it! Enough is enough… This needs to be cleared up once and for all._

"I'll see what I can do," she announced and turned to leave.

"Lindsay! Wait… Don't…"

"I'm not gonna say you told me to talk to her. I'm very discrete, don't worry. I'm good at this," she assured him with a smile.

TBC

-

**Alright - try to review and make "a little later" come sooner ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	18. Why?

**Okay, I'm back from the horses (really had to start working with my little Paul again, he's just getting too fat - 24/7 on the pasture with lots of grass, nothing but eating... looks more like a brown/white-colored ton at the moment #gg#) - and in the mood to update :-)**

**You guys are SO great! If there was a reviewers' award, you'd deserve it.**

**One little advice for the end of this chapter: Before you start asking "I wonder WHAT Stella was thinking about..." - read the lyrics of the song, I already mentioned that they are an important part of the story ;-) **

**-**

_**Chapter 18 – Why?**_

"Hey Stella, need any help?"

Stella snapped back to the present when she suddenly heard Lindsay's voice right next to her. After her short encounter with Mac in the break room, she was trying to hide in the lab room and had started to work on samples that the ME had sent over.

She looked at Lindsay and motioned to the various plastic bags and Petri dishes in front of her.

"Knock yourself out…" she offered, glad that she got some distraction from her thoughts that wouldn't stop circling around Mac for a second.

"Okay, what is this, what are we working on and what are we looking for?" Lindsay tried to create a nice and easy mood.

"Samples from the rotten remains in the sports bag they found near the river yesterday. According to the bones the ME found in the whole mess, there were arms and legs only – unnecessary to mention he suspects unnatural COD…"

"Figures, hard to close the zipper from the inside…"

"Huh?"

"Nothing, sorry…"

"We need to examine the tool marks on the bones, send samples of tissue to Tox and run some chromatograph tests on … the, um liquids. Maybe try to get some DNA material out of something. There's no flesh left and the blood is way too degraded, but maybe we can extract some material from the bones…"

"Alright, let's get started!"

They worked together in silence side by side, from time to time exchanging instruments, checking on each other's findings. Every now and then Lindsay would make an attempt to start a conversation, but she noticed quickly that Stella wasn't very talkative today. Actually her mood seemed even more depressed than Mac's. Yet she didn't give Lindsay a chance to dig deeper.

XXXXX

Mac hadn't seen Stella much the whole day. He had noticed very well that she had been avoiding him intentionally. First she was hiding in the lab room, working with Lindsay on evidence for hours. He didn't want to interrupt because he wasn't sure what Lindsay was trying to do and he wanted to give both of them time.

When he tried to talk to Stella later, she claimed that she had to go to the morgue to check something out and in the afternoon she left the building to search the Moormann apartment again.

He couldn't even blame her for not giving him a chance to explain. But why hadn't she told him she didn't want to talk instead of standing him up in the morning without a word?

This question bothered him the entire day, especially when he walked past her office in the late afternoon and noticed that everything was dark in there. She had already left work without saying anything.

XXXXX

Stella closed the door to her apartment behind her. She dropped her bag on the floor and walked into the kitchen to get a can of soda out of the fridge. It was still early evening since she had left the lab early today. Actually she had to admit it had been some kind of escape from him…

She knew Mac wanted to talk to her, he had tried to several times, but each time she had pretended to be too busy. After all it had done something good – during her search at Riley Moormann's apartment, she had found a box with bottles of liquid hormones. Print tests showed that only the victim's prints were on the box and bottles. The medication itself was on its way to be analyzed and tomorrow they would check if someone tempered with the labels to cause an overdose by wrong instructions on them.

When she was running out of options and excuses, she decided to go home early. She was tired and exhausted and she knew she couldn't handle another confrontation with Mac at the moment.

Just when she was going to open her door, her neighbor Mrs. Wintermeyer had called her from her apartment and had asked her if she could bring her some vegetables and other things. Glad to have something to do that would distract her, she had agreed and afterwards they had had a nice cup of tea together. For a while, Stella had been able to forget the mess she was in.

Now, back in her apartment and alone with her thoughts, everything came back to the surface.

XXXXX

All attempts to get some clear thoughts about what was going on with Mac or between them were of no avail.

It didn't make sense.

She knew he still had problems in showing his feelings to other people and maybe even still had the feeling of guilt towards Claire if he admitted that he had feelings for someone again. She was the first to understand it and so far, she had thought he would know about it.

So far, she never cared because it didn't matter.

Scenes from the past days started to return to her memory – the dinner they had had together, the little goodnight kiss she had given him, the undeniable attraction and tension when they had been hiding from Lindsay in the restroom…

Suddenly she realized that she only thought about certain nice moments, not at all about others, arguments, fights…

_Why???_

Wasn't it obvious that he was trying to get somewhere? There was more – no, it was different - than the boss and best friend relationship they had had up to now. What was it that he was going for, but then again was afraid of that much?

While asking herself the same questions over and over again, Stella suddenly noticed that she hadn't thought about her own feelings at all yet. She jumped slightly after the realization had rushed through her mind.

_No… This is not possible. This can't be. I'm not... I really need to go to bed and get some sleep. I didn't even notice how late it is…_

She peeled herself from the couch and quickly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep after a short visit to the bathroom.

_You know I've loved you for so long  
I can't believe it's all gone wrong_

_Why does it have to end this way?_

_Why can't you change your mind and stay?_

TBC

**-**

**Finally a longer chapter! And no complaints please ;-) Night ain't over yet... Let's see lots of reviews coming in, you know how much they mean to me and how happy they make me - and you know what that means for you when I'm happy :-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	19. Night Wanderings

**You guys are COOL - 200 reviews! #runsaway# I'm getting scared... ;-)  
**

**Just because I was asked and didn't mention that in the last chapter - the song still was and also is in this chapter "Teardrop" by Jane Comerford. Here in this chapter the lyrics express Mac's thoughts again.**

**Please read and review as always!  
**

**-**

_**Chapter 19 – Night Wanderings**_

Mac didn't remember how he got there.

It was already after midnight when he finally turned off the lights in his office. He aimlessly drove around buried in thoughts and here he was, standing outside of her apartment in the middle of the night. His heart was drumming against his chest so hardly, that he feared it would wake the entire building.

He tried to relax and calm himself down, but nothing he ever learned in this regard seemed to work.

_What if she doesn't want to see me? What if she doesn't want to talk to me ever again? What if...? Geez, stop it with all those 'What ifs'! _he called himself to order.

_She has to!_

But he couldn't silence the doubts and worries running through his mind. The seconds passed like hours. What was he supposed to do now? He always had a plan, he was always prepared, always organized, always in control.

This wasn't like him – he was completely lost here.

And the only person who was able to help him in such moments was behind that door...

For a moment he thought about just sitting down in the corridor. And then? Waiting for her to come out in the morning? He looked at his watch.

_**2 a.m.**_

He could hardly do that to her – what would the neighbors think? At least he was so much in control of his thoughts that he didn't become completely illogical.

Finally he straightened himself and took a deep breath. He HAD to talk to her.

_NOW!_

He carefully knocked against the door.

Silence.

_What if she isn't home? What if she is out with someone? Oh my God! Or even worse... What if she is IN there with ... someone??? _

Mac's mind went up and down like a roller coaster when suddenly the sound of the opening door pulled him out of his thoughts.

XXXXX

Stella opened the door, dressed only in a short, low-cut, dark purple silk nightgown.

"Mac, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" she asked reproachfully, but the look in her eyes betrayed her. A light sparkle told him that she wasn't just mad at him.

It wouldn't be easy to make her admit it and he knew that.

_If I could only make you see  
There's still a heart inside of me  
_

_Give me one chance to ease the pain  
Don't leave me standing in the rain_

_- _

She watched him with sleepy eyes for a while.

"When you're done with checking me out, you may as well come in - now that you woke me up anyway," she motioned with her head over her shoulder.

Mac blushed a little, suddenly realizing that he had stared at her like a school boy.

"Do you always open the door like … THIS in the middle of the night?" he asked in self-defense, still somewhat irritated. "You never know who…"

Stella rolled her eyes in a mixture of feigned desperation and amusement.

"Mac??" she asked, tipping on his shoulder to get his attention, then pointing to the door.

"See that little hole in there? That's what they call a spy hole. You can use it to look through, to see who's disturbing you, even in the middle of the night…"

He blushed again. Apparently he wasn't able to focus at the moment. How else could he make such stupid comments?

XXXXX

For a while they were standing in the opened door, facing one another until Stella determined that Mac wouldn't make a move within the next time. She turned around and walked over to the couch in her living room, leaving him alone with his doubts about what to do next.

Finally he figured that standing in the dark corridor in the middle of the night in front of an open apartment door wasn't much better than sitting out there, waiting for her the entire night.

Reluctantly he entered the apartment and carefully closed the door behind himself.

"Why are you here, Mac?" Stella suddenly asked him again.

Surprised at the cold tone in her voice, a sad look appeared on his face.

"I'm here to find out what went wrong," he sighed, fighting down the tears that wanted to fill his eyes while he slowly walked over to her.

Stella's anger wanted to melt like ice in the sun when she saw him struggling like that, but she wasn't yet willing to let him off the hook so easily.

"You know what went wrong," she stubbornly replied therefore.

"No! I don't. If I hurt you, it surely wasn't on purpose, I would never, I… I couldn't. Please, Stella…?" he begged her.

"You didn't wanna talk, you said there would be nothing to talk about. Why now?" she snapped more than she wanted to.

He frowned.

"I tried to call you last night. I left a message on your voice mail because your phone was off," he carefully started in a low voice. When she didn't answer, he became a little more confident.

"I left a message and asked you to meet me at Katz's Deli before work because I thought you might need some time for yourself first last night. You never called back, you didn't show up at the deli this morning. So I figured you didn't want to talk to me. I wanted to talk to you all day, but things got so busy and I couldn't fight of the feeling that you were avoiding me..."

All of a sudden, Stella became very quiet…

TBC

**-**

**I told you last time the night wouldn't be over yet... You get the feeling we're getting somewhat closer? You wanna know if your feeling is right? Let me know ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	20. Lost In Cyberspace

**One reviewer mentioned this could actually be better than the TV show - regarding the complications, I agree ;-) Apart from that: If any of the writers happens to read this - feel free to use my ideas, I don't insist on my copyright in that case #ggg#**

**Okay, actually I planned to update later - but since it's my birthday today, I thought I give you a little present and a little reason to celebrate. One last chapter featuring "Teardrop" by Jane Comerford - one more emotional sniffler.**

**Get your hankies out ;-)**

**- **

_**Chapter 20 – Lost In Cyberspace**_

After a long moment of silence, Stella finally found her voice again.

"You called last night?" she asked to make sure she was right.

"I did," he assured her. "Remember now?"

He went over to the couch and took a seat next to her.

She tried to pull away from him as far as possible, but this time he didn't let her go. He put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. After a deep breath, she started explaining.

"My battery died yesterday evening when I was synchronizing my cell phone with my laptop. Somehow that killed the internal memory. All the voice messages I got from yesterday late afternoon until about 10 p.m. got lost. If you called, I didn't get a chance to listen to the message, it got lost in cyberspace…"

He noticed her previously angry and disappointed expression suddenly changed into embarrassment.

"So, can we talk now?" he softly whispered.

Stella stared at the carpet in front of her. She didn't know what to say.

_How could I have been so childish? I didn't even give him a chance to explain what happened. Why didn't I just ask him? No, too stubborn. And now?_

Before she had a chance to find herself a way out of this awkward situation, Mac put his right index finger under her chin and made her look at him.

There was a pause. Perhaps it was for a few seconds, maybe it was a few minutes. To him, it seemed like an eternity. He looked at her, his heart pounding so fast and loud he was convinced she would hear it. What could he do or say to change her mind?

_Damn it! How come he always has this effect on me? How could he make all anger and resistance disappear just like this? _

A single tear escaped her right eye and rolled down her cheek.

Mac glanced over to her, it hurt him deeply to see her crying because of him and his fear of intimacy. He carefully put the palm of his left hand on her cheek and softly wiped away the tear with his thumb.

He felt so desperate and prayed a silent prayer that he could make her feel better. He swore that he would fix things between them. No more pushing away. All he needed was the chance to prove how much she meant to him.

"Stella?" he looked at her expectantly.

She tried to avoid his eyes without success.

_  
Thousand miles away  
Lost and feeling blue  
Wishing you would stay  
I can't believe it's true  
_

_What are we gonna do?_

_- _

"Mac... I ... I don't know what to say, I feel so stupid..."

"Good."

"Hum?"

"Good, because that's how I felt all day today when you treated me like I had some sort of contagious disease without really knowing why I deserved that."

More tears started filling her eyes now and rolled down her cheeks when she tried to blink them away.

"Hey, hey. No reason for this... I'm not gonna end up as a case for the loony bin because of this – that is, if we finally sort things out as we were supposed to the other night?" he softly asked, referring to the setup meeting that Lindsay and Danny had arranged for them.

Stella chuckled through her tears when she thought about how eagerly their colleagues had tried to push them to get things cleared up.

Mac carefully started drying her tears with a handkerchief. Then he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

"This is SO embarrassing..." she sniffled against his shoulder.

"No, it's not. And now will you talk to me or do I have to start using my interrogation skills on you?" he teasingly threatened her.

A light smile showed up on her face.

_**Finally…**_

"No, please... Mercy!" she weakly protested while pretending the intention to push him away. But this time he didn't need much effort to pull her back into his arms.

-

_Where do we go from here, baby?  
How can we make the hurt disappear?  
I would give the world for you  
It's breaking my heart in two_

_And what are we gonna do?_

_- _

TBC

-

**Not sure about the next update date - also depends on you guys ;-) Let me know what you think, please?**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	21. Trial By Jury

**Thanks everyone for your sweet comments and wishes - I'm so happy that you like it, I knew you would. "Bit" more of the emotional direction coming up now.**

**-**

_**Chapter 21 – Trial By Jury**_

They were sitting on the couch for a while in total silence until Mac got up and walked over to the window. He stared out, watching the lights of New York by night.

_Why isn't she reacting to me? She doesn't say a word…_

Mac began to panic. He had no idea what he was supposed to do next, afraid that it would be wrong anyway. Nothing seemed to be right, pushing her might scare her off, waiting for her to take the next step might make her think he didn't care or would think about a way to back out again…

Finally Stella stood up as well and walked over to him.

"You know, you can't turn the indicator light and drive on the left side and then turn right at the end of the street…" she quietly said, now standing next to him.

She didn't touch him or even look at him, just looked out of the window the same way he did.

He knew what she was referring to.

"So – what am I charged with?" he softly replied.

Stella looked over to her right side from the corner of her eyes without turning her head. She was surprised by this reaction, but apparently they both didn't really know how to get out of this situation and maybe it just needed a little playing to make it easier.

"Causing inappropriate confusion in coincidence with mental ups and downs," she quickly replied, wondering if it just sounded as stupid as it seemed.

"That's a pretty serious charge… So what's the people's evidence in the arraignment?"

_You really wanna play this game? Alright, there you go…_

"Well, first of all I don't appreciate someone snapping at me without any reason when I'm just trying to be nice."

"You're right, that was unfair and wrong. And I'm sorry for that. I shouldn't have overreacted that way, but I was just… you know when you… after the… I just didn't know…" he struggled for the right words.

"The defense is already losing the thread?" Stella asked without sounding teasingly at all.

Mac knew that he had to explain it to her, now was the moment to talk openly. Otherwise they would never get out of this emotional mess they had been caught in for days.

He breathed in deeply before continuing in a calm voice.

"After I got the electrical shock and you held me in your arms while I was lying there on the floor… I can't explain it, I was just pretty confused afterwards and I didn't know if it was the shock or … being so close to you and I … I was just afraid that someone else might notice that. And when you then asked about getting me something to eat and some rest – I just snapped. It wasn't against you, I guess I just wanted to make clear, more for anyone who could have heard it, that there was nothing."

He sighed.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Stella."

She nodded. She had expected something like that behind his reaction, but couldn't believe it until he told her himself.

"And besides," he continued with more courage after he noticed she understood what he had just told her, "when I wanted to apologize, you attacked me with paper cannonballs without warning."

"Objection!" she defended herself.

"Why's that?"

"First of all it was just basically a paper pellet. And it was just ONE and I was just throwing it into the waste basket and didn't 'attack' you with it."

"Right. Objection sustained," he agreed. "What next?"

"When you invited me for lunch, we…"

"Objection, irrelevant!" Mac interrupted.

Stella took a deep breath.

"I wasn't done yet. Let me finish my phrase?"

"Sure."

"… we got interrupted by this call that I KNOW you couldn't do anything about," she emphasized. "I'm not blaming you for that, that's just daily routine, I'm used to it. But what I couldn't understand was what happened later. Mac, we had a wonderful evening together, I haven't felt that good in a very long time. And correct me if I'm wrong, I had the feeling you had a pretty good time yourself."

She looked at him expectantly.

He nodded slightly.

"You're right, I did…"

"I didn't take the little good night kiss as a commitment or anything, but I could swear there was something going on between us. And no matter what you tell me now, I know you felt it, too."

When he didn't react, she went on.

"Then how do you explain the scene in the locker room the next morning? What happened there, Mac?"

He shook his head and pressed his lips together. Now that he heard the facts presented to him like this he noticed how stupid his behavior was and how much he hurt her with it.

"I was just afraid that someone would come in and…"

"What Mac? Catch us having a very brief, innocent hug? Are you really that afraid of it?"

"It could have developed into more than a hug…" he mumbled so quietly that she couldn't understand what he was saying.

"What?!"

TBC

-

**Eh, yeah - mean little me again. Sorry.**

**No, I'm not - send me some more of those nice little review alerts and I will think about another quick update ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	22. Best That You Can Do

**This chapter features a new song - to indicate a change of atmosphere. The song is "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" by Christopher Cross from the soundtrack of an 80s movie called ... (Big Surprise!) ... "Arthur" ;-) It's an amazingly beautiful ballad, one of these that gets tears in your eyes after the second line because it's so emotional...**

**Fluff - Fluff - FLUFF :-)**

**- **

_**Chapter 22 – Best That You Can Do**_

"I said…" he looked straight out of the window, searching the night sky for a solution of his problems.

Another deep breath.

"You're right – I was afraid. But apart from anyone coming in, I was more afraid of what I would do and what you would do and … I didn't know if…" he helplessly let his shoulders drop.

Stella slowly started to understand what he was trying to tell her, yet she was too unsure about being right.

"Why didn't you talk to me at the bistro? I mean, it was obvious that Danny and Lindsay had noticed there was something going on and whether or not it was appropriate, they tried to set up a chance for us to talk in private because apparently it was already starting to have an effect on us at work. Why didn't you say anything there?"

"Because I thought that … I thought it would be what you wanted. I thought it would be easier for you if I just showed you that there was nothing and we could go on like before and…"

Mac paused when he felt her hand on his left arm.

"And YOU are telling ME not to rack your brain, hum?" she gave him a challenging look.

While Stella was waiting for an answer, Mac started to develop an intense interest in his shoes.

"But there WAS something, wasn't there?" she softly asked when he just looked down instead of replying.

Mac nodded, unable to speak.

She turned around to face him. Their eyes locked for a moment - and suddenly there was no need for words anymore.

-

_Once in your life you will find her  
Someone who turns your heart around and  
Next thing you know you're closing_

_Down the town_

_- _

He brought her closer and kissed her with everything he was feeling, all doubts and worries instantly disappeared as if they had never been an issue. All the pain in his heart, the passion and undying love was summed up in this one kiss. She passionately returned it, knowing that no matter what happened or what would happen, this was feeling just right.

After what seemed to be an eternity they reluctantly broke off the kiss and looked at each other, both with tears in there eyes.

_-_

_Wake up and it's still with you  
Even though you left her way across town  
Wonderin' to yourself - hey  
What have I found_

_-  
_

"Stella, I can't. This is not right…" Mac whispered, only to be stopped by her...

"Sh-sh, don't…."

He pulled her back into his arms and slowly led her back to the couch. His hands carefully started to explore her body as he laid her back against the pillows. Stella responded by moving her hands under his shirt, starting to caress his chest.

He looked down at her for a moment, the feelings he found in her eyes being a reflection of his own. Slowly his hands roamed lower and lower, until she started moaning softly, her head dizzy with emotions.

"Hey! It's not nice to get a girl all excited and then drop her," Stella complained when Mac suddenly stopped his affections and pulled away from her.

"Stella," he started nervously, "I wanna make this right, I want it to work. There was a time I thought my life was over, but you showed me it was just beginning. You reminded me how to live again and how to laugh again. I never wanna do either without knowing you'll always be by my side."

-

_When you get caught  
Between the moon and New York City  
I know it's crazy  
But it's true_

_-  
_

"You know, for a long time after Claire died I thought about going away. Back to Chicago, maybe to the West Coast, anywhere but New York. But then with the time I realized I couldn't run away, the memory would follow me anywhere I'd go. And there was another reason why I couldn't leave…"

"What is it, Mac?" Stella softly asked, while cuddling up against his chest.

She could sense the magic of this moment, the deep emotional and intimate connection that started to build up between them and she realized she had never felt that safe and comfortable before.

"You…" he whispered in her ear, his face buried in her curls, his arms tightly wrapped around her.

"Are you willing to go through this with me? I mean, you know, this won't be easy. You know better than anyone that I'm complicated enough to be with. And then at work and…"

"You know, we've been through so much together, for such a long time now... I'm certainly not willing to give up on you now. Ever!" Stella added firmly.

Mac tenderly started stroking her back until he noticed she had fallen asleep. It had been a tough time for both of them. He smiled at the view of Stella being so relaxed and peaceful in his arms, her head trustfully resting against his chest. Very carefully he leaned over to grab a blanket from the other armrest and gently covered her with it.

"Good night, love," he whispered and placed a light kiss on her temple.

-

_If you get caught  
Between the moon and New York City  
The best that you can do  
(The best that you can do)_

_** Is fall in love**_

_- _

TBC

-

**Amazing song! Good chapter?? Let me know!**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	23. Love Bite

**The "Reviewer of the Week" award goes to ... Amy! For reviewing ALL of my stories almost chapter by chapter within just two or three days :-)**

**And one public comment to another review: The comment "How could anyone fall asleep in SUCH a moment..." made me laugh tears! I agree, being in Mac's arms... I would have dropped dead, but not fallen asleep ;-)**

**Okay, guys - go on and enjoy!**

**- **

_**Chapter 23 – Love Bite**_

"Good morning sleepy head," Mac smiled tenderly when he noticed that Stella had started to move on the couch.

Stella blinked a few times after rubbing her eyes and focused on the gorgeous man sitting inches away from her. It took her only a few seconds to recall the events of last night.

She slowly sat up which only made them closer in proximity. Their eyes locked for several seconds. Both were aware of the attraction they felt for each other. Mac took advantage of the situation and kissed her gently on her lips. Then he pulled away again, looking at her with a smile.

"Go ahead and get ready. I'll leave you alone now. Breakfast will be finished in 10 minutes."

XXXXX

"Why does life have to be so complicated..." Stella deeply sighed, chewing on a piece of toast, a mug with tea in both hands.

Mac chuckled about her desperate tone. He knew it would get pretty complicated and after all he had been the one who had been most concerned about mixing up private and professional lives.

But right now and right here, the woman of his dreams sitting next to him at the breakfast table after having spent the night in his arms, he didn't care. He was happy and he knew things were right the way they were going.

"I wish we would live in some little valley in the desert. You know, sheriff's office, only a handful of farmers and a couple hundred cows around, no crimes to solve but conflicts about cropland and jealous farmers who suspect their wife of having an affair with the groom…" Stella started fantasizing which made him laugh out loud.

"Uhum. And for how long do you think you could stand living in that solitude?"

Stella sighed another time, knowing he was more than right about it.

"Not two days…"

"See?" he smiled and placed a little kiss on her cheek before getting up and putting the dishes into the kitchen sink.

XXXXX

"Is that a love bite???" Hawkes asked Stella in surprise when he met her at the lab later that morning, pointing at the right side of her neck.

Stella waited for the earth to open and swallow her. But nothing like that happened.

"What?!? Of course not! What makes you think...," she started while feeling along her neck with her fingertips.

_Could there be... Nah – or could it? Why didn't I notice when I was in the bathroom? Damn it!! Why didn't I see it and put a scarf or something over it???_

"Got bitten by a horsefly, allergic reaction..." she quickly tried to explain.

Hawkes shook his head with a knowing grin.

"Eh-eh, those bites only become discolored after two or three days, starting with a light red swelling, then turning to dark red with a shade of purple and yellow. Yours is dark purple and there was nothing yesterday..." he scientifically analyzed the situation.

"Are you observing me??" Stella snapped. She was running out of arguments and desperately looking for a way out.

"You wore a ponytail yesterday, remember?"

"Huh."

Hawkes' cell phone went off.

"The morgue, gotta go," he figured after a look at the display. With that, he left her standing behind without a further comment on the unpleasant topic.

_D__amn it! Gotta talk to Mac asap, BEFORE things get outta hand here..._

TBC

**-**

**Short, I know. But there's so much more to come - and I'm currently working on part 2 to this story (finally), so just keep watching and drop some of those cute little comments in the meantime ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	24. Black Eye

**I spontaneously decided to post an extra update today instead of next week only - I hope you don't mind ;-) It's just that I'm having a lot of fun with posting, getting reviews, replying to reviews - and all this keeps me motivated to work on the next part (not really a sequel, it's gonna be a real story that continues the events of this one) which is making good progress now. So I can speed up updating again.**

**As long as you want this (the speeding up) of course? **

**-**

_**Chapter 24 – Black Eye**_

She found him on the way from the break room back to his office.

"Mac! We need to talk, got a minute?" she asked while heading to her own office.

"Right behind you," he smiled, following her closely.

"Hey Stella, did you hear that we have a suspect in the Moormann case? Flack called half an hour ago, they have a guy at the precinct who tried to get into the apartment with a key, so he had access… Right now it's not yet clear how he is connected, all we know is he is not Riley Moormann and he didn't recognize the victim on pictures that they showed him. But at least we got someone who might be able to help us find out where Moormann is – once we get this guy to talk…"

"Yeah, great. That's good," Stella mumbled absentmindedly.

When they reached her office, she automatically grabbed the door which would open towards the corridor and wanted to take a step back to get around it. But since Mac was so close behind her that he blocked her from stepping back, her head hit the glass in a pretty loud bang.

A few seconds went by without a reaction, then Stella carefully shook her head, slowly turning around.

"Ouch. You know... you were right," she mumbled while rubbing her forehead with a little groan. "Having a relationship with someone at work IS risky…"

Mac smiled apologetically and gently took her into his arms, patting her back.

"I'm sorry, does it hurt very much? Wait a second, I'll get you a cold pack!" he said, heading off for the fridge in the break room.

XXXXX

"Here you go, put this on your forehead. You're gonna get a nasty bump there…" he figured after he checked on her head and found the beginning of a swelling right above her right eye under the eyebrow.

"Great…" Stella sighed while sitting down in her chair.

"You know what happened right after I got off the elevator?" she asked and continued without waiting for a reply.

"I met Hawkes and the first thing he asked me before I could get my mind straight about how to act and trying not to show what's going on between us, and before even saying good morning or anything else, was if that was a love bite that I had there on my neck – I just felt like a bus hit me and didn't know what to say or how to react and if his cell phone hadn't gone off just that very moment then…" she babbled without interruption.

Mac watched her with amusement and concern until he softly stopped her.

"Breathe!"

"Huh?"

"Take time to breathe... air is free," he smiled.

"Why…?" she sighed while leaning back in her chair, resting her head against the headrest.

"You should never ask why – just ask why not," Mac tried to give a smart advice.

"At the moment I'm actually more thinking 'Why me…?'"

XXXXX

"DID you see Stella this morning?" Lindsay breathlessly asked when she finally found Danny who just came from the print lab.

He shook his head.

"Nah, I just saw Mac heading for the break room earlier, didn't see her yet. Why?"

"How did he look?" Lindsay asked hastily.

"Look? What's this about, Montana?" he wondered.

Why would Lindsay ask him what Mac looked like?

"Did he seem angry or upset or anything like that?"

"Why – what's this about?" he asked again, his mind busier with the result he just got from the prints he secured from the deli robbery. One was a match to a partial Stella had lifted from the sport bag with the body remains at the river…

"Well, you know what was going on – or maybe not, whoever knows – here. Yesterday after our little setup meeting the night before which didn't seem to have gone that well, they barely talked to each other," Lindsay explained.

Danny frowned. He didn't have a clue what that had to do with the question if he had seen Stella this morning or with why it was important to know what Mac looked like.

"Aaaand?"

"When I saw Stella earlier, I noticed a light swelling at her forehead – she had some sort of a light black eye…" Lindsay whispered conspiratorially.

Danny's jaw dropped onto the floor. He looked at her with eyes like saucers.

"Get out! You don't seriously think that… You're crazy, they would never fight, let alone Mac hitting her," he exclaimed quietly.

TBC

**-**

**You know how this works, don't you? Speedy reviews speedy update more speedy reviews more speedy update... Hey, I should give Speedy Gonzales a role in this play ;-)**

**One little request to everyone: Please do NOT post any spoilers in your reviews (this would include season 3 since there might still be folks who haven't seen it yet). Please be fair and just don't write anything in this way, thanks :-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	25. Hard Cookies Don't Crumble

**You are SO sweet :-) I'm getting more and more excited about this story - I even almost forgot to update today because I'm working on the next part (other story that will pick up the events from this one) at the moment and it's finally making progress...**

**The saying "Hard Cookies Don't Crumble" belongs to Fran Drescher - quoted in her book "Cancer Schmancer" :-)**

**- **

_**Chapter 25 – Hard Cookies Don't Crumble**_

"Yeah, I know that," Lindsay silenced him and looked around to make sure nobody was overhearing their conversation.

"Then what… Hey, Hawkes!" he called out to make her aware that someone was approaching from behind her.

"Hey guys," Hawkes greeted them. "Did you notice Stella's little secret?" he smirked.

Lindsay and Danny shared a puzzled look, their mouths dropped open.

"You saw it, too?" Lindsay asked, starting to worry how fast rumors would start going around.

"Sure I did. She tried to convince me she got bitten by a horsefly, but you could clearly see that that was a love bite. You don't really need a medical degree for recognizing that…" he grinned and left them standing alone.

"WHAT?!?" both exclaimed in one voice after a moment of surprise while looking at each other.

After a moment, Danny found his voice again.

"You have ANY idea what the hell is going on here?"

"Not more than you…" she shook her head.

XXXXX

"Feeling better?" Mac sympathetically asked when Stella entered the lab.

She gave him a bright smile. After having spent a while with the ice pack on her head in her office, she had tried the rest of the morning to walk around without running into too many people. The bump on her forehead, even though it wasn't that obvious at first sight, started to form out more visibly and she wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions.

"You know, hard cookies don't crumble…"

"No, but they taste better with cream…" he returned, glad to see that she was alright.

"A lot of things taste better with cream…" she winked, causing him to blush slightly.

"Yeah, well, um… actually speaking of that…" he rummaged for words. "About the 'cream' we found in this sport bag – we just got a new little gadget here that might help us to find out who the victim is and what happened to him or her."

Stella chuckled. It was too cute to see how excited he still got when he got a new toy to play with at the lab.

"Okay Supermac - impress me...," she said with a smile.

"Here, have a look at this – you take samples of the … um, 'liquid' from the bag and fill it into these little spaces. Then you activate the machine and within about 12 hours it separates everything into its components – no manual extraction anymore, we will have DNA material and any kind of possible chemicals or whatever is or was in that bag ready for working on it. Isn't that amazing?"

"Yeah, it sure is," Stella still smiled. It was good to see him so enthusiastic about something.

"And since we made such a good progress and the results are only available tomorrow anyway, we could leave early for lunch today – what do you say?"

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Every once in a while..." he replied with this Mac-Taylor-smile that she loved so much on him.

XXXXX

"Alert phase red, Mac's office…" Danny announced when she returned from her lunch break. Mac wanted to meet her, but then called that he got held up, so she only grabbed a sandwich and came back in early.

Stella looked at him wondering what this was about, but then she heard loud voices coming from the direction of Mac's office. Anticipating nothing good, she slowly walked over there.

Danny had an idea what she was trying to do.

"Tell him I need to tell him something important!" he called after her.

Stella turned around and gave him a questioning look.

"We found a matching print at the deli robbery," he explained.

"Matching to what? AFIS spilled out a name?"

"Nah, not exactly. It's a match to the partial you got from your bag at the river."

"What?!?" Stella's eyes widened.

_Well, that should be a good excuse to get him out of that office right away,_ she figured.

Through the glass doors, she could see Mac in a heated discussion with DA Roger Wilcox, a 30-something-year-old parvenu who certainly had made his way up by kissing the right butts. She didn't like him, nobody at the lab did. Wilcox was a permanent pain in the ass, someone who always tried to put pressure on the investigations to get results earlier than possible, just too look good in front of his superiors.

Normally she wouldn't have cared that much about him, he wasn't a threat on his own. Mac could handle him in his sleep. What concerned her more was the other person in the room.

Donald Atkins – Deputy Chief and therefore official boss of bosses. He was a nice man in his late sixties, usually very friendly and kept his hands out of matters down here at the lab. What was he doing here now?

This wasn't good at all – and Mac was exploding in there.

TBC

**-**

**Okay, go ahead and review. Please? ;-) Keep me motivated to speed up writing the next part (story) so that you won't have a long break when this one is completed (which is not yet!) :-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx **


	26. Beauty And The Chief

**Hey, where is everyone... Are you guys all on vacation? I haven't heard from some of the more frequent reviewers in a while - hope you didn't get bored here... ;-) Anyway - thanks everyone again for reviewing!**

**Now go and R & R please :-)**

**-**

_**Chapter 26 – Beauty And The Chief**_

Stella took a deep breath, put on a professional smile and entered the office without looking at the other two guys.

"Mac, Danny needs to see you at the print lab. He found a matching print to the partial on our sport bag at his crime scene from the deli robbery," she announced, trying to sound calm. Then she looked to her right side as if she only noticed now that they weren't alone.

"Chief Atkins, nice to meet you. What brings you down here?" she tried to play the charm card.

It had always worked and so it did this time. She knew the Chief liked her, especially ever since they had danced at the last NYPD charity banquet. He gave her a broad smile back.

"Detective Bonasera, always a pleasure to see you," he shook her hand and then hesitated for a moment when he noticed the bump atop of her right eye and the slight discoloration. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What happened to you, are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"Me?" Stella wondered for a moment, then quickly remembering what he was referring to.

"Oh that. Yeah, no problem. I just…"

_Dammit, no good explanation in sight…_

"I ran into a door…" she shrugged, knowing that this was the oldest excuse in the world for injuries like this.

_So what, it's the truth, isn't it?_

Luckily the Chief bought it without further questioning.

"I just came here because Mr. Wilcox informed me that there seemed to be considerable delays in a case regarding the processing of evidence and that he would be unable to process a suspect the police arrested earlier. I wanted to inform myself personally about the situation," he explained to her.

_Just what I thought – this goddamned sycophant…_

"Why don't you follow me, I will show you what we just figured out while Detective Taylor is talking to Detective Messer?" she smiled at Chief Atkins while giving Mac a secret sign to finally get out of the line of fire.

"I'll see you later…" Mac mumbled slightly confused on his way out of his own office.

"Shall we go?" she asked the Chief who nodded, still smiling at her.

"Wilcox, why don't you go back, I'll take care of this," he ordered the DA without turning around to him while he held the door open for Stella.

She smirked inwardly – _this_ was hilarious. She would have loved to see Wilcox' face in this moment.

XXXXX

On the way to her own office, she kept praying that something smart would come to mind very soon since she didn't really know yet what to tell the Chief.

Just when they walked around the next corner, Hawkes approached them and handed Stella some documents with results. She took a quick look at them, noticing that these were the long-awaited chemical analysis from the Moormann case.

_THANKS! That was just in time…_

When she looked up again to ask him a question about the findings, she figured that he already left again.

_Yeah, sure. Just leave me alone with this…_

She cleared her throat and put up her smile again.

"These are the test results on the victim's testicles," she started explaining, inwardly cursing no one in particular that this was the topic of all possible ones to discuss with the Chief.

"I can show you in the lab room and explain in detail if you wish. As it seems," she took another quick look at the graphics and numbers on the sheets in her hands to make sure she wasn't telling total nonsense and also to sound and look convincing enough, "he had an overdose of hormones in his system – whether or not this had anything to do with his death or not will have to be determined. Same as the question of if the overdose was self-inflicted and in that case accidentally or voluntarily taken or if it was given him by someone else. So far it seems that it was no third party involved, we found bottles with the hormone substance at the apartment that only had the victim's prints on them."

Stella paused and waited for a reaction or a sign to go on.

"Thank you very much for your time, Detective Bonasera. I appreciate your explanations and I'm sure that the final results you present in the end will clarify any open questions. I will talk to the DA's office to make sure you have all the time you need to set up a straight case. You will keep me informed?"

"Of course I will," she quickly promised him, more than relieved that everything went so smoothly. "We will send the complete report over to the DA's office tomorrow in the morning. Until then, we should have the analysis on the labels of the bottles which should tell us whether someone forged them to make the victim take an overdose without knowing it and we will also have the final result on the dosage of the hormones themselves by then."

Chief Atkins nodded with a friendly smile. Stella watched him leaving, then turned around and walked to her office, lost in thought.

She didn't notice that he turned around once more and looked after her with an investigative look. The call from DA Wilcox hadn't been the only reason for him to pay his visit to the lab, but for the moment he had seen enough.

He made a mental note to keep an eye on things before he returned to his office.

TBC

-

**Okay girls (Or should I say Ladies & Gentlemen? I'm just assuming it's mostly girls around here - if not, let me know #gg#), your turn again. Keep me updated with your comments - and I'll keep you updated with the next part. I almost finished the next story that will be a follower to this one, so there would be no reason to delay posting this one here... Unless you make me do it ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	27. Who's The Boss?

**I thought I wasn't really in an updating mood... But then I had a look at those very nice reviews for the last chapter - and here we go :-) **

**-**

_**Chapter 27 – Who's The Boss?**_

"I'm gonna talk to Wilcox about that case again, we need to..." Mac started after Stella met him in the corridor a while later.

"I already handled that," she interrupted him while they walked side by side towards the evidence room.

"Why?"

"To save your a.. um, excellent career," she quickly corrected herself when she noticed his raised eyebrow.

"You and him... Not good. I figured that if we want to get out of that without a big fight, it would be better to try some diplomacy," she smiled, knowing that usually Mac was the one that was good with people, getting them to do what he needs. But in this case it was more than recommended to keep them as far apart as possible.

"And?"

"Well, we got him off our backs for now, Chief Atkins will talk him into giving us a little credit. So he has to wait for results until we are done," Stella explained with a smile.

Mac shook his head.

"How do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Wrap everyone around your finger like that?" he winked.

"MEEEE?" she gave him the most innocent look she could fake.

"Some people have a natural talent to cause a good mood wherever they show up," Mac smiled.

"Right – and others have the talent to spread a good mood wherever they leave…" Stella returned, referring to Wilcox.

He prodded her playfully on her left upper arm before stepping a little away when he noticed that Lindsay was working on something in the evidence room.

XXXXX

Lindsay didn't notice anything around her. She was totally focused on the piece of evidence in front of her that she was working on for what seemed to her like hours now.

"YES!" she called out and jumped up to grab a small evidence bag and put the unruly subject into it. Then she swirled around and nearly bumped into Stella and Mac who had just entered the room to witness her outbreak.

"Will you take this to Trace for me, thanks!" she cheerfully called while putting the evidence bag into Mac's hand and headed out.

Mac looked after her with a puzzled look. Then he turned to Stella who watched the whole scene with amusement.

"I'm still the boss here, right?" he wondered.

She chuckled.

"Yeah, sure you are."

"Just wanted to make sure…" he mumbled while turning around to take Lindsay's sample to Trace as she asked him to.

"Mac, wait!" Stella called after him and hurried to follow.

"You didn't give me a chance to update you on the Moormann case, I think we cracked it. Well, most of it. Hawkes just handed me the first results while I talked to the Chief. The prints on the bottles of hormones I found in Moormann's apartment were only the victim's. From visual comparison, the labels seem authentic – lab is currently testing the content to check if the dosage inside is higher than the labels say. According to Sid, an overdose as the one we found in the guy's testicles can cause serious dizziness, even leading to fainting. Most likely the guy took too much of the stuff to … maximize and speed up the effect of, you know… shrinking and thus reducing the male features of his appearance. He didn't feel good, probably wanted to lie down and when he reached the bed, he just blacked out, fell backwards and…"

"…snap," Mac finished.

"Right. Wrong place, wrong time," Stella confirmed.

"And we didn't find any burn marks on him because he didn't touch the ground – which would have closed the electric circuit - when the knife hit his back," Mac noticed.

"Exactly. I think that the knife was plan A and in case that would have failed, – plan B would have kicked in. Like for example when the victim had touched the bed and the knife would have snapped out before it hit the body, or if the wound as in our case wouldn't have been fatal and the victim would have been able to get up again, he would certainly have tried to take the knife out of the mattress while standing next to the bed – and zoooom. You REALLY got lucky there…" she realized once again, remembering the moment when Mac got the electrical shock.

"Yeah, I did…" he agreed.

"There is no sign that the victim had ever been in this apartment before, the intended target must have been the owner of the apartment – Riley Moormann."

"Who is this mysterious Riley Moormann, why did anyone want to kill him, what is the victim's connection to him and where the hell is this guy?" Mac wondered.

"Well, THAT would be the points that we still have to figure out. And maybe Flack will get something out of the guy they arrested in the meantime. For now, we need to wait for the final test results on labels and bottle content and then send our report to the DA's tomorrow morning. So what about Danny and that matching print?" Stella reminded him.

"Oh right, that one. He recovered a full set of prints from the till at the deli, one matched the partial we found on the lock of our sport bag. And we got a match in AFIS for another print Danny and Lindsay found at the scene after they recreated the scenario. Suspect is connected to a gang. Police are interviewing the suspect right now."

"Great. So one and a half cases closed for today – good average," Stella smiled.

TBC

**-**

**It's your turn again :-) Maybe to encourage you a little (or maybe this will make you run away and stop reading at all? Ah, I'll take the risk... #gg#):**

**I almost finished the second part to this story and it is even a bit longer than this one... Is it encouraging you to review or discouraging and does it make you leave?? ;-) I promise you some more "action" between our two lovebirds after they now finally resolved their "issues"... If you want it, you can have it right after this "Part 1" is completed. Just gotta let me know ;-)**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx**


	28. Wouldn't Life Be Boring?

**You guys really ROCK! Thanks SO much for all those nice reviews - and to reward you for that, I decided to update a little faster again, also to make you see it really works (the more, the faster #ggg#).**

**Thanks to EVERYONE who ever reviewed here - no matter if just once or regularly. I love you guys :-)  
**

**Alright - little explanation here because I don't wanna spoil the effect of my final sentence: This is the final chapter of this story. NOT the end though ;-) ****I promise that part 2 will be less complicated, the "Teardrop" phase is really over - and it's gonna be M-rated (at least for parts of it) ;-)  
**

**Please stay with me for that one! But first read and review this here ;-)**

_**Chapter 28 – Wouldn't Life Be Boring?**_

"What about breakfast at my place?" Mac whispered in Stella's ear when they met in the corridor later in the evening.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go home now. I need to … um, talk about something with my neighbor," Stella replied loudly.

She had noticed that Danny and Lindsay were standing around the corner and wanted to avoid any suspicion.

"I need to be there in an hour and I have to do some shopping before," she added to give Mac a hint when and where to meet her.

"Say 'Hello' to Mrs. Wintermeyer!" Danny called after her, waiting for a reaction.

Stella walked straight to the elevator without turning around. Either she didn't hear him or she decided she didn't want to.

"Did you see that?? She didn't even blink..." Danny mumbled unbelievingly while he turned back to Lindsay.

"Who knows…" she shrugged, not really sure herself what she wanted to say with this. Maybe there was nothing after all. She was used to following the evidence to reach a conclusion.

And the evidence in this 'case' was … inconclusive to say the least.

XXXXX

Stella's apartment, 1 hour later

"I think we are safe..." Stella announced while she closed the door behind herself.

They had left the office in separate cars so that nobody would see them together and then met at her place 15 minutes ago. When Stella had opened her door, Mrs. Wintermeyer had called her over.

"You make yourself comfortable, I'll be right with you," she had smiled at Mac before she had turned around to talk to her old neighbor.

Mac was waiting for her on the couch and gave her a questioning look.

"How?"

"After what Mrs. Wintermeyer had told the others, they might suspect I'm having an affair with Flack," she grinned.

"WHAT? How come they know her? And why did she tell them you have … an affair with Flack??" Mac was completely confused.

"She didn't exactly tell them that. She just wanted to tell me that I had such nice colleagues who took care of me. Apparently Danny and Lindsay have been here recently, you know the day when you and I were supposed to have lunch together and stopped here to pick up my cell phone?" Stella explained.

"Uh huh," Mac nodded with a wrinkled forehead, wondering what else would come.

"Well, they arrived here after we already left again and she saw them at my door. Then she told them they just missed me and that I would be out with this 'young and handsome detective' I work with."

"Young and handsome?" Mac wondered.

"Her words," Stella smiled. "You know, she's 93 years old. To her everyone under 75 is young."

"Under 75? Thanks…" he pouted.

"Oh come on, Mac… You're not serious about this, are you?"

For a moment Stella wasn't sure if she had hit a nerve or if he was just pretending.

"You don't think this is an issue?" he carefully asked.

"What? The age difference between US? Are you kidding?" She couldn't believe he was really going at this.

"Yeah I know. I was just thinking…"

"Well, I'm not a teenager myself, so I think there's nothing to worry about," she tried to cheer him up.

"You're younger than me…"

"Right, I am. And if everything goes right, I'll always be," she winked. "And just for the record, I never liked the guys my age when I was younger because they seemed so immature – why should I change my preferences now?"

Mac started to relax, he knew this wasn't a problem between them and it never would be.

"You remember that shooting star?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Sure I do, why?"

"My wish did come true…"

Instead of an answer, Stella tenderly touched his cheek and smiled at him.

"What about handsome?" he teased her while he grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms.

"Let me show you…" she softly whispered into his ear and started to plant little butterfly kisses along his neck as she carefully straddled his lap.

"This could have been a lot easier…" he sighed under her affections.

"Yeah, but wouldn't life be boring – if love would be easy?"

_**The End – of part one**_

_**-**_

**Attention: To be continued under the title "Members Only" - soon to be published around here!**

**How soon? Well, that would depend on you ;-)  
**

**xxxlittlesheepxxx  
**


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